


Antithesis

by YukiPage27



Category: Antisepticeye - Fandom, Darkiplier - Fandom, jacksepticeye, markiplier - Fandom, youtube - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Dimensions, Blood and Violence, Emotional Manipulation, F/M, Kidnapping, Psychological Horror, Scary, scavenger hunt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2018-10-31 21:35:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 35,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10907913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YukiPage27/pseuds/YukiPage27
Summary: You are left in your Los Angeles apartment, alone to deal with the imaginary monsters that go bump in the night. Things are not as they seem, however. There is more to be afraid of than fear itself; you should be scared ofhim.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> *This work was inspired by the Darkiplier that Markiplier has expressed in his video series "A Date With Markiplier" and the video "Markiplier TV." It tries to be as accurate to his representation of him as possible. A huge thanks to LadyElvan, who edited "Mark on Darkiplier" from Mark's February 2017 charity livestream. It served as a great reference material when writing this and was the original inspiration for this work. Another big thanks to my friend for encouraging me to upload this. No fear :). And, without further ado, enjoy "Antithesis."*

The silence in your apartment envelopes you as you take off your headphones. Your flatmate was gone on a trip to see her parents, leaving you alone in your L.A. dwelling. It’s the middle of the night, and you have just decided to go to bed after hours of perusing the Internet and listening to music. An almost eerie feeling comes over you as you shut your computer and get up from your comfy chair. Your heart rate speeds up a bit as you nervously look around your small living room. You nearly jump out of your skin as a tiny, black and white blur flashes past you on the ground and darts behind your chair. Tentatively, you peek over. You relax and smile a little at your own uneasiness. It was just your cat Oreo, cowering in the corner.

“What’s the matter girl? What spooked you? You’re almost as jumpy as me,” you say to the feline in soothing tones. Oreo lets out a tiny “mew,” and stays huddled up in the corner, shivering. You bend over the piece of furniture and put out your hand to pet her when **boom boom boom** , you hear a harsh knocking on your front door. You fall over onto the floor in a heap, your heart threatening to burst from your chest. After you collect yourself, you call, “I’m coming! I’m coming!” and gingerly pick yourself up off of the ground. You grab a sweatshirt and pull it over your spaghetti-strap pajama top to maintain some sense of decency. You cross the living room over to the door, your bare feet making a soft padding noise as you tread on the thick carpet.

Gathering up your courage, you open the door; your hand shakes just a little. Your eyes widen in shock as you see Markiplier, _the_ Markiplier, dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a t-shirt. His eyes look unfocused and he’s leaning against the doorframe for support, clearly having trouble holding himself up. You just keep standing there, mouth open, staring at him like he is the first human being you’ve ever seen. In a moment of clarity, Mark’s pupils focus and look straight through you. He opens his mouth as if to speak, but then his eyes roll into the back of his head and he collapses on your welcome mat. Pulling yourself out of your stupor, you kneel down next to the unconscious Mark and after some hesitation, shake him slightly.

“Hey, are you ok? Mark? Wake up!” A flicker of panic sparks in your chest as you continue shaking him, without any results. Finally, you take Mark by both arms and half drag, half carry him into your apartment, muttering apologies as he bumps into your coffee table. He was heavier than you expected. With some effort, you manage to hoist Mark onto your couch. He lies there immobile as you stand over him, panting from your exertions. The only sign of life from the man is the slight rising and falling of his chest. You examine his head, looking for any sign of injury. Nothing.

Turning, you shut the door and lean your back against it. You push your hair out of your eyes and sigh. What the heck are you going to do? _Markiplier_ was in your house, on your couch, in a seemingly comatose state. You glanced back over at him and wonder what the heck he was doing here and, more importantly, what the heck was wrong with him?! You have to call somebody, maybe the police. With a last worried glance at Mark, you head down the hallway to your room to retrieve your phone from it’s charging port. You’re halfway to your destination when all of the lights in your apartment flicker and go out with a loud popping noise. The blackness surrounds you and seems to swallow you whole. You flinch and stop in the hallway, frozen in fear. No sound emanates from anyplace in the house.

Your eyes eventually adjust to the darkness and you can make out the faint outline of the door to your bedroom. It’s just a power outage, you tell yourself. These things happen all of the time. It has nothing to do with the strange events that happened this night. You release a quivering breath. You convince yourself to turn around and find your way to the kitchen. Fumbling around, you locate the drawer containing the flashlight. You grasp it and turn the switch on. Let there be light. You shine the flashlight around the kitchen, then around the living room, stopping the beam at the couch. A chill runs up your spine. Mark is gone.

“Hello? Mark?” you call out timidly, stepping into the living room. Your flashlight suddenly winks out, leaving you in total darkness again. Creaking sounds echo around you and a high-pitch ringing, barely audible, fills your ears. The breath leaves your body when you see two red pinpricks of light in the darkness. They look like... they look like _eyes_. You can make out the dim shape of a being, with glowing eyes. It starts to approach you and you can’t move an inch. You can only watch as the being comes closer and closer. The creaking gets louder and louder. You close your eyes and then it’s there, right in front of you. You can feel it’s warm breath on your face. You open your eyes and flinch backwards. Your back presses against the wall and there’s nowhere left to go.

The light in the kitchen flickers on and casts an unnaturally pale light on the being. On **him**. It was Mark, or seemed like him anyway. But gone were the jeans and tshirt, replaced by a coal grey suit with a tie the color of dried blood. His eyes had dark rings around them and were a burning red instead of a gentle brown; his skin was ash-colored, almost the same hue as his suit. His hands were clasped behind his back. “M-m-mark, is that y-y-you?” Your voice quivers as you stare at the figure a few feet ahead of you. He looks at your trembling form with an odd expression; his gaze is analytical with a hint of arrogance.

“ **I am not Mark.** ” he says in an impossibly deep voice.

“Th-then who are you?”

“ **I have many names. But you know me as Darkiplier.** ” Your eyes widen in recognition. No, this can’t be happening. Darkiplier is a character created by Mark, an opposite, “darker” version of Markiplier. Just a character, or so you had previously thought.

“B-but you’re not real,” you stutter. “M-mark m-made you up.”

“ **And I would like everyone to keep thinking that. For now. You are someone special, however.** ” Dark gives you a small smile. “ **By the way, how are you this fine evening?** ” He looks somehow… inviting? Open? The creaking sound lessens, although the ringing persists.

“I’m. Uh, I’m not sure how I am.” You squint at him, suspicious at his change in demeanor and still equally terrified. He nods slowly and adjusts his shoulders.

“ **Many things have happened to you tonight, so I am not surprised that you are having trouble making sense of it all.** ” You open your mouth to speak, but then he cuts you off before you can utter a sound. “ **I see the questions on your lips. You want to know how I exist and why I am here. The former will be made known to you at at a later time. The latter is that I came here for one purpose and one purpose only: to see you.** ”

“Me?” You shake your head in bewilderment. “Why do you want to see me? I’m nobody. What could you possibly want with me?” You gulp as Dark takes a step closer to you.

“ **You have caught my attention from afar. I can see that you are an… interesting person. I would like you to come with me, to be my companion.** ” All of the color drains from your face. “ **Anything that you ask for, I can provide for you. I can take you anywhere that you want to go.** ” He takes another step closer to you and the light starts to flicker, casting unearthly, menacing shadows on his face. You flatten yourself against the wall even further, looking like a human pancake. Darkiplier holds out a hand to you. “ **Come with me.** ”

You shake your head rapidly and squeak, “No.” Dark’s head twitches and you catch a glimpse of the burning rage behind his eyes before he masks it again with a suave indifference. He retracts his hand and straightens his tie; a smirk forms on his lips.

“ **I’m afraid, my dear, that you do not have a choice in the matter, then.** ” With lightning speed, he snatches your hand and intertwines his fingers with yours. The creaking and the ringing intensify to an ear-splitting pitch, until you are clutching your head in pain. You squeeze your eyes shut and all you want is to make it stop, make it stop, _make it stop_! Then everything fades to black and you are falling into the sweet release of unconsciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You wake up alone in an unfamiliar room, and events do not go as you expected.

The first thought you have when you acquire consciousness again is “I wonder if Oreo is going to be alright while I’m gone.” That’s strange. Why would you be leaving? Your brow knits above your closed eyelids in puzzlement. Suddenly, everything rushes back to you and your breath catches in your throat. You open your eyes slowly, hoping that everything that happened last night was a dream, and you are just lying passed out on your own couch.

Unfortunately, you are in fact not lying passed out on your own couch. You sit up and glance around. The room you're in seems to be a small living area; it’s furnished with a flat screen TV, coffee tables of various sizes, a bright lamp in the corner next to a closed door, and the beige couch you are currently situated on. The lamp is the only source of light in the room, as both windows have their blinds drawn tightly. You sit up and kneel on the couch. Upon opening the blinds on the window behind you, you discover that it is the middle of the day. The bright sun blinds you for a moment before your eyes adjust. The window looks out from the second story of what seems to be a house, into a backyard. Tall wooden fences encircle it. You attempt to pry open the window, but it doesn’t budge. The other window proves to be in the same condition.

Taking a deep breath, you walk over to the door on the opposite side of the room. The wooden floor is cold on your bare feet. There must be another way out of this place. Surely you can escape, find a phone, and make it back to your apartment in one piece. You still aren't positive everything that happened wasn't a dream; maybe you have amnesia or something.

When you reach the door, you give the knob a hard turn, expecting it to be locked. To your surprise, it opens unhindered and you step into the dimly lit hallway. You pass multiple doors in silence, then turn the corner at the end of the passage. A staircase greets you and you peer over the banister into a living room. There are multiple pieces of nice furniture, and all of the blinds are closed here as well. The lamps give off plenty of light for you to see by. You notice all these details afterwards, of course, because **he’s** sitting there. Darkiplier is placed on one of the dark brown sofas, reading a book with a composed expression on his face. In the light of normal lamps, his complexion still looks paler than Mark’s ever did, but not as grey as when you saw him last. His eyes, however, are still a slightly flickering red and there is a mild tension in the air.

“ **I can see you up there, my dear,** ” he says in a casual tone of voice, without looking up from his book. You jump slightly at the sound of his voice and suppress a scream. All that leaves your mouth is a small squeak. “ **Come down here. I would like to discuss some things with you. I am sure you have more questions to ask me, as well.** ” You hesitantly start down the stairs. He catches you furtively glancing at the front door and frowns slightly. “ **There is no escape for you that way. All of the exits are sealed so that one can only come and go with my permission.** ”

Your eyes return to him. His attention is focused on his reading material again. After fully descending the stairs, you sit lightly on the settee across from him, feeling conspicuous in your thin pajama shorts and over-sized sweatshirt. You are only a couple feet away from Dark, with a coffee table separating you from him. Your sweating palms and the slight quivering of your hands betray your terror. You clutch the hem of your sweatshirt to steady yourself. Dark sits there, reading his book, for what seems to be an eternity. You can make out the cover, but it’s in a language that you’ve never seen before. Finally, he puts his book down and looks at you. “ **Ask your questions now and I will choose which to answer.** ”

“Um. Ok. So, like… what are you? And how do you exist here?” You mumble without meeting his eyes.

“ **Suffice it to say, I am a being from another world than yours. Another dimension, if you will. I came here after sensing an intriguing prescience. That was your Mark Fischbach, three years ago.** ” Dark pushes his fringe out of his face and smooths it down absentmindedly. “ **I was younger then, and my control only lasted for a couple of days at a time, sporadically.** ”

“Wait, what do you mean control?”

“ **I thought that you would have figured it out by now,** ” he says, spreading his arms wide open. “ **This is Mark Fischbach; or his body, to say the least.** ”

“So, you're possessing him or something? Like a demon?” You say in a slightly disgusted tone of voice.  
“ **Oh, I am no demon. But I am stronger than ever before. After all these years, I am able to fully take control of Mark,** ” he says with an arrogant expression on his face.

“But what's so intriguing about Mark? What's so interesting about me? _Why me?_ ” You lean forward slightly. Dark gives you a slight grin; it sends shivers down your spine.

“ **I think that's enough for today,** ” he replies, fetching his book again. You look down at your hands.

“Why can’t you just let me go? Please? I want to go home,” you whisper. A flash of rage flits across his face and his eyes seem to burn brighter. He slams the book down on the table, causing you to flinch with a small “eep.” The lights flicker and cast a paler glow. Creaks and ringing once again resound around the room. You wince slightly.

“ **This is where you will be now; with me,** ” he growls vehemently. “ **I will not let you leave.** ” He glares at you. You are petrified under his gaze, unable to utter a word in the face of his sheer anger. And just like that, the aggression leaves him. He smooths out his countenance to a calm indifference and the world goes back to normal. Dark releases the book and fixes his tie; he looks at you again with a different expression, one you can’t identify. “ **I did promise to give you anything you wanted, but permission to leave is one thing I will not, cannot, give you. Perhaps there's something else that I can provide.** ” He stands up, fixes his hair, and smiles a curious smile. Suddenly, Dark disappears without a sound.

You look around, bewildered. What the heck? Where’d he go? Without warning, he reappears right next to you on the couch. You immediately shrink away, but he inches closer. “W-what’re you doing?” you squeak.

“ **I am giving you what you desire.** ” Dark cups your face with his hands and stares into your terrified eyes. You are pallid and shaking. “ **I know how you feel about Mark. How should it be any different with me?** ”

“N-no, I…” you stutter, but he cuts you off with a finger on your lips. He looks at you with… is it lust? Anger? Pity? You can't get a read on him.

“ **You are so lonely. I can see it in you. I can give you what you want.** ” He brushes a lock of hair from your face. Your stomach lurches. He leans in further, but in the last moment before his lips touch yours, you put a hand on his chest to stop him. You slowly push him away.

After a shaking intake of breath, you say, “I am… I am flattered by your attentions, b-but this isn't what I want. With all respect, I don't want to do this.” You gulp and shift your eyes to the side. “I may be… lonely, but I hardly know you and, well…” Your voice trails off and you brace yourself for his fit of anger. He pulls away and your hand falls into your lap. Your gather up your courage and glance at him again. His face is calm.

“ **That is perfectly fine, my dear,** ” he says with a small smile. “ **I was only doing what I thought you desired.** ” Dark looks up at the clock on the wall. “ **You must be hungry; it is nearly 1 o’clock. I will show you to your room, where you can clean yourself and dress for lunch. We will be dining out today, wherever you want to go.** ” He stands up and walks towards the stairs. After a second, you get up and trail behind him. You stare at his back as you walk, in shock. You really did think that you were going to die when you pushed him away. Every muscle in your body is still tensed. You follow him into the dim hallway, and he stops at one of the many doors. Dark opens it for you and you step inside. The bedroom is pleasantly furnished, with a king sized bed and a dresser. There is another door that you assume leads to the bathroom. You turn to face Darkiplier and he steps outside.

“ **I hope this is comfortable enough for you. I will be downstairs if you need me. Come and see me when you are ready.** ” He leaves the room, closing the door behind him.

Your body releases all of the tension in it and you collapse on the floor. You curl up into a little ball and start sobbing from relief and despair. Your thoughts race in your head. You didn't die yet, but how long would you be able to last? This man… he is horrible. But he pulled back? Why? And why did he care in the first place? He must’ve been toying with you. You are sure that he is mentally unstable. And a being from another dimension? All you want to do is go home.

After a couple more minutes on the floor, you sit up and dry your eyes. You are going to survive and find a way to escape. He isn’t going to keep you forever. With steely determination in your mind, you stand and start to prepare for your day out with Darkiplier.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A stroll through the city and lunch with a madman; what could go wrong?

Hot water from the showerhead runs down your back as you peer through the small, steam-filled bathroom. You are clean, finally, after spending so much time in the same clothes. You don’t want to get out of the shower, though. It's so relaxing and peaceful under the water, making it easy to pretend that nothing had happened. All you have to do is close your eyes and stay under the cascading liquid; let it wash all of the bad memories away. Then a small pinprick of alarm breaks through your reverie. What if he gets mad that you are taking so long? Regretfully, you turn off the faucet. The water slows to a drip, drip, drip, then stops.

You step out onto the bathroom mat and rub your hair vigorously with the large towel that is on the rack. After drying the rest of your body, you wrap the towel around you and open the door. The cooler air of the bedroom hits you like a tidal wave. You shiver. You quickly dress in the underclothes that you had laid out before. You wonder what clothes were in the dresser that Darkiplier had provided you with. Opening the drawer, you rifle through the various shirts, pants, and skirts. You choose a modest, green v-neck tshirt and a simple, long black skirt with ruffles on the hem. Surprisingly, both items fit you well enough. You brush your teeth (with a toothbrush from a brand new, never-been-opened package), brush your hair (the brush was from a package as well), and tie your hair into a neat bun.

Squinting at yourself in the mirror, you sigh. Without any makeup, this will have to do. Who was there to impress anyway? Certainly not that bipolar psychopath. You give your reflection a pained grin, remembering the move he tried to make on you. Welp, here we go. You gather up your courage and open the door to the hallway. You once more walk through the dim corridor and down the stairs into the parlor. Darkiplier is sitting and reading his book again. It’s like deja vu; this time, however, you are more prepared to deal with him. When you enter the room, Dark puts his book down and stands up. “ **Are we ready to go?** ” he says. His gaze holds a certain intensity, as always. You wither slightly beneath his stare.

“Well, I.... Um.” You look down at your bare feet peeking out from under your skirt. “I don’t have any shoes.” You wiggle your toes on the frigid bare floor.

“ **Ah. That can be easily remedied.** ” Dark vanishes. You release a sigh and glance around the room. Being in his presence always causes you so much anxiety. You don't know if you would ever get used to it. He reappears again and you flinch a little. You don’t know if you will ever get used to his… teleportation or whatever the heck he does, either. Dark holds out a pair of flats to you.

You take them and slip them on your feet. You quietly ask, “How do you do that? I mean, disappearing and reappearing.”

“ **I am not bound by the laws of your world. Many things that a human cannot do, I can do as I please.** ” His eyes rest on you again and he offers his arm to you. “ **Shall we?** ” Cautiously, you loop your arm through his. The room suddenly darkens; creaking sounds and a slight ringing echo through the blackness. You feel like your body is in motion, but you are standing in place. You almost fall over from the force of the motion; you clutch Darkiplier’s arm tighter to steady yourself. Then, the movement stops and the world fades into existence again. You and Dark are standing in an alleyway. You hear the hustle and bustle of cars, and can see people walking past the entrance of the dark passageway. You breathe a sigh a relief at the sight of other humans. Dark leads you out onto the sidewalk and you join the throng of people. You are in downtown Los Angeles; tall buildings and restaurants of all kinds surround you amid the flurry of people.

You glance up at Dark as you walk. He almost looks normal, like Mark would have. You could hardly see the red in his eyes in the bright sun. He senses your eyes on him and gazes back at you. Quickly, you look away. You focus on your shoes. “ **Where would you like to eat? The price does not matter at all,** ” he says; you can sense the arrogance emanating from him.

You are almost tempted to say McDonald's, just to spite him. You resist the urge. “I don’t really know. I’ve never been to this part of the city before,” you admit. You look around and point to a fancy-looking establishment across the street. “How about there?”

“ **As you wish.** ” You start across the street together at the crosswalk. A hand reaches out and taps Dark on the shoulder. He turns, with you in tow, to see a boy of about twelve or thirteen years staring up at him. The boy has a wide grin on his face and his eyes are filled with excitement.

“You’re Markiplier! I’m a huge fan of yours!” he exclaims. He is practically vibrating with happiness. Dark’s change in demeanor is astonishing. A big, goofy grin stretches across his face and his whole body seems more relaxed.

“Hi! It’s nice to meet you. But how about we get out of the street first.” The boy nods and follows you and Dark to the sidewalk. He’s chattering to Dark the whole way. You barely hear anything the two are saying as your thoughts race. Is Darkiplier that good at pretending? Everything about him seems to be like Mark; his voice, his inflection, even his body language.

“Who are you, by the way?” The fan’s voice tears you from your musings.

You force a smile for the sake of the child. He seems so innocent; he has no idea who he is dealing with and you don’t want to cause him harm. “I’m just a friend. We’re having lunch together.”

“Ooo, are you on a daaate?” The kid shoots both of you a mischievous smile.

You speak quickly before Dark can interject anything. “Oh no. We are just friends. Mark’s dating Amy, remember?” A realization strikes you. Where is Amy? What did Dark do with her? You glance over at Dark, and from the look he gives you, you can tell that he sees the wheels turning in your brain.

Dark laughs, a jovial sound. “Yeah, Amy and I are dating. But, she’s out of town right now. My friend and I are planning to meet up with some other people and get a bite to eat.”

“Oh.” The boy seems satisfied with this explanation. He looks over his shoulder at a woman shouting from the other side of the road. “Well that’s my mom. I’ve got to go. It was nice meeting both of you!” With one last wave, he scurries away. Dark’s posture stiffens and his hands clench slightly. He pops his necks. You once again feel the intense aura radiating from him.

“ **Shall we continue?** ” He gestures to the restaurant in from of you. You nod your head slowly and Dark holds open the door. “ **After you.** ” While he speaks to the hostess, you try to fit more pieces together in your head of who Dark is. Knowing he can imitate Mark so well makes you even more afraid of him. It also turns your stomach sour. Lying, manipulation. You hate everything about him. You are seated at your table and the waitress leaves you some menus, with a promise to return for both of your orders. You look at Dark. He seems focused on his menu. “So,” you say, and gulp. “Where is Amy, really?” You surprise yourself with your own forwardness.

“ **She is as I said; away on a trip. How fortunate for her.** ” Dark closes his menu and rest his hands on the table. “I do not know what I am going to do with her when she gets back.” Dark cocks his head to the side and stares into space. “ **Hmm. Maybe I’ll masquerade as Mark again for her. You would have to be out of sight, of course.** ” The waitress arriving with glasses of water breaks his concentration. “ **I will think of something when the time comes.** ”

You both place your orders and the waitress relieves you of your menus. After she leaves, Dark reaches over the table and takes your hand. You try feebly to pull away, but you know that it’s futile. “ **Of course, she would never replace you. At the moment, you are my _favorite_ human being.** ” He gently rubs his thumb over your knuckles. Your hearts rate shoots up and you try to calm yourself. It’s ok, it’s fine, everything is going to be ok. He’s still looking upon you fiercely. You take a deep breath and manage to yank your hand away. The table rattles slightly as you shove your hands in your lap. Dark chuckles, a deep menacing rumble. “ **There you are; quietly brave when you clearly are terrified of me. You have enough courage to resist me and enough intelligence to do so without going too far, besides a few mistakes in the beginning.** ” He laughs again. “ **I see right through you, my dear.** ”

Suddenly, the humor disappears from his face. “Just remember, my dear, that there are beings far crueler than I that exist. Your little strategy will not work on everyone.” It was as if he knew what was about to happen. Without warning, all of the color drains from the room and everyone is frozen in place. It’s like looking at an old black and white movie that's paused. Darkiplier and you are the only ones who can move. You eyeball all of the still customers, while Dark sits in silence with a disgusted look on his face. You turn back to him and are surprised to see slight panic in his eyes. Before you can ask what’s going on, a gaping hole opens above your table. Out of the inky blackness comes a blustering wind and a mocking voice that startles you.

“Hey, hey, hey! How’re ya doin’, Darkimoo? You enjoying your date with your little pet?” The disembodied voice is distorted slightly, and has the ironic frivolity of an insane person. Napkins whip everywhere in the whirlwind, forming a mini-tornado around the table. “Sorry to ruin your good time; I just was in the neighborhood and decided to pop by to see if you were holding up your end of the deal. I only count… let me see here… I only count one condition met. Of course you’d achieve the one that you liked. But, you know, when I helped you to take over Markimoo’s body full time, it wasn’t for free or just for your… needs.”

“ **I will bring him!** ” Dark shouts furiously through the wind. He grimaces and grasps the lapels of his suit jacket. “ **I promised I would hold up my end of the deal! Now leave us!** ” Dark’s head jerks to the side.

“Ok, ok. You got it. I’ll leave you two lovebirds to make out or whatever.” The voice giggles. “But he better be here next time I come to call or baaad things will happen. Ok, that’s it, I’m off, I’m gone, byyye,” the voice says in a singsong way and the hole shuts with a snap.

Everything is quiet. The napkins flutter softly to the ground. Then the spell is broken and the restaurant once again fills with color and life. Nothing has changed, except for the expression of rage on Darkiplier’s face and the expression of shock on yours. Only one inkling of a thought can make itself heard in your stupefied brain. It bounces around a bit until it finally comes to fruition: who was “he?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all of you who have read this so far. This is something that I am passionate about and it means a lot to me that other people enjoy it as well. :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A surprising revelation is made to you in the park and you have to make a difficult decision.

You are sitting on a bench in the park. Your stomach grumbles. With a sigh, you rub your belly. You haven’t had anything to eat for a while; or to drink, for that matter. You wish that you had been able to get your food before that _thing_ appeared and rattled Darkiplier up. After the void closed, Dark grabbed your arm and stormed out of the restaurant. No one tried to stop him, since you hadn’t really bought anything yet. He dragged you along through various streets for a little bit, not saying a word. You ended in the park that you are still at; sitting on a bench, hungry, watching Dark pace back and forth on the path in front of you. You _would_ try to escape in other circumstances, but you didn’t want to attempt anything with Dark being in his current state of mind. He might actually kill you if you tried.

You look up and squint at the sun, trying to gauge what time it is. Your stomach growls, louder, before you can make a reasonable estimate. Dark stops at the sound and looks at you for the first time in a while. It seems that he had forgotten your presence. Without speaking, he walks towards you. He grabs your arm again, more gently this time, and leads you to a food stand on the other side of the park. Tersely, he orders three hotdogs and a large soda from the attendant. Dark slaps a wad of cash on the table, snatches the bag of food, and pulls you along back to the bench. You sit down and he sits next to you, placing the food and drink in your lap unceremoniously. Without hesitation, you open the bag and gobble down a hot dog. You eat the next one at a much less hurried pace, taking small bites. You take a long sip of your coke. You taste the sweet, caffeinated sugar and enjoy the feeling of carbonated bubbles traveling down your throat. Finally, you have some food in you.

You take the last hotdog out of the bag and look at it for a second. You glance over at Dark. He’s sitting with his hands clenched in his lap, staring off into space in the other direction. You nudge him with your elbow. He turns to face you. “ **What?** ” he says without emotion. Wordlessly, you offer the hotdog to him. You don’t know why you do it; maybe it’s from gratitude for him feeding you finally, or because you at last feel like yourself again with your stomach full. Maybe you do it out of pity, after seeing him so worked up. For whatever reason, you offer it to him. Dark looks at you, then at the hotdog, then at you again. He shakes his head and you put the hotdog back in the bag.

After some time passes, he speaks. “ **There is food back at the house. You will not go hungry again.** ”

You nod, then take a breath. “So. What was that?” Silence. “Please,” you beg. “Whether I like it or not, I’m a part of this now. Whatever _this_ is. So who was that voice?” Your conviction falters when he studies your face. He stares into your eyes and you shudder, but you don’t look away. He seems satisfied with your actions, and begins to talk.

“ **The 'voice,' as you call him, is a demon. I do not know where he came from nor what he is exactly, but I do know that he is the most dangerous, evil, twisted person I’ve ever met. Yet...** ” Dark sighs and pushes the fringe out of his eyes. “ **Yet, I still made a deal with him.** ”

“Yeah, he mentioned that. What deal did you make?”

“ **I wanted to leave my dimension so badly. Your world seemed inviting and your Mark was compatible, so I tried to escape. As I said before, I was not strong enough to stay in his body then. Very recently, I met a demon who offered to let me use our combined powers to take full control of Mark Fischbach. There were conditions, however.** ” Dark laughs ruefully. “ **A condition that I failed to meet was to bring in a specific person from my dimension.** ”

Your thoughts are buzzing with questions. However, you don’t know how much information Darkiplier wants to reveal now, so you choose to ask the one that has been burning a hole in your mind ever since the void closed. “This person… who is he, then?”

“ **He happens to be another frequenter to this world. He, too, lacked the strength to remain here. A word that would describe him best is… chaotic. There is some tension between us. He has interrupted my plans far too often in the past.** ”

“Wait, he’s been here before?”

“ **Yes, and I assume that you are somewhat acquainted with him. You knew who I was, after all. Here, he goes by the name Antisepticeye.** ”

You mouth falls open. “Antisepticeye? Anti? You mean he’s real, too?”

Dark smiles at your astonishment. “ **Yes. He is very real; a troublesome annoyance, nothing that is really threatening to me. However, I have absolutely no idea why the demon wants me to bring him here. That was the next question you were going to ask, was it not? I did inquire why I needed to bring him. The demon said, ‘** You have to prove yourself, dontcha? Anyway, it’ll be much more fun when he’s there. I absolutely love beings from your dimension. You’re the most interesting creatures I could ever hope to observe. **’ Or something to that effect.** ”

You were startled by his impression of the demon. Dark sounded just like him. You compose yourself and cleared your throat. “Ok, so… why haven’t you brought him here yet?” It seems like your morbid curiosity is kicking in.

Dark twitches, then straightens his tie. “ **So many questions. This will be the last one I answer for now. Suffice it to say, I cannot bring him in because I lack a permanent connection with this world. Because the demon brought me here, I have enough power. But I am without a catalyst. That is where you come in, my dear. You are my catalyst.** ” He places his hand on your arm.

You jerk away. “Wait, no no no no. I’m not helping you. I mean,” You have a sharp intake of breath when he regards you with irritation in his eyes. You carry on, the words tumbling out of your mouth. “You would do to Jack what you did to Mark and I wouldn’t want to do that to anyone and you kidnapped me so why would I help you and… and… and… mphhm!” Your voice is muffled when he covers your mouth with his hand. You ogle at him as you try to pull his hand away, but he is too strong. You let your hands fall away in resignation.

“ **My dear, you try my patience. I intend to give you a choice in the matter, and an incentive to make it worth your while. If I do not complete this condition, the demon will tear me from this body haphazardly, destroying it in the process. Your Mark will die if you do not do this.** ” Your eyes widen to the size of saucers and a tear rolls down your cheek onto Dark’s hand. He sighs. “ **I am certain that you are not a cruel enough person to let him die. I would lament at his death. It would be the loss of a good person, as well as a compatible host for myself.** ” More tears fall and collect on his hand. He removes it from your face and using the ball of his thumb, he wipes the tears from your eyes. You just sit there, dazed. “ **Do not worry, my dear. Mark Fischbach will not die if you help me. Neither will Sean McLoughlin.** ”

You are going to have to do it. You can’t let Mark die. You won’t allow it to happen. He is one of your heroes, and you feel… you don’t know how you feel about him. It doesn’t matter. You have to save him, even it means sacrificing your own freedom. You sniff and wipe your nose. “Ok, I’ll do it. But I’m doing it for Mark, not for you.”

Darkiplier smiled. “ **I would not expect anything else, my dear. I would not expect anything else.** ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. I'm going to be MIA for a little bit, maybe a couple of weeks. I'm not going to be able to update "Antithesis" for a while. It's the dreaded hiatus, I know. I'll still be around to answer your questions/comments, so don't be afraid to ask. When I'm back, I'll do my best to catch up with the story. But for now, stay safe and be kind to each other. Thank you all for your support of this work. Be back soon! :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amy comes to call and you have to deal with the consequences.

You toss and turn in your bed, trying to find some semblance of rest. You know it will never happen. The knot of guilt and fear in your stomach won't let you, neither will your tortured thoughts. It's been a week since you agreed to help Darkiplier in his particular endeavor, and you've not been able to get much sleep since. Resigning yourself to the inevitable, you sit up and rub your eyes. The past couple of days have been a mixture of pacing around your room, reading from the collection of books Dark brought you, and trying to sleep. The only good thing that happened was finding Chica in the basement. You had gone down to get some canned food when you discovered her hiding in the corner. Now, you feed her, play with her, and clean up her messes. She won't come up from the basement for fear of Dark, so you have to get creative about dealing with her. Still, it's nice to have a friend in this horror house.

Your thoughts turn from Chica to Dark’s phone conversation with Jack. He had called and invited Jack and Signe to come stay at his house for the week of VidCon. They gladly accepted. By some cruel twist of fate, the YouTube convention happens to begin next week; the pair are going to arrive a couple of days before it begins. You can only imagine what Dark will do when they get here.

That is not the only problem that troubles you, however. The more immediate issue is that Amy is going to come back tomorrow. You check the digital clock on the bedside table; the numbers read 3:05. Amy is going to come back _today_. You cover your face with your hands. You already swore to yourself that you would never let anything happen to Mark. Now, you add a new person to that oath. You promise to yourself that you will do everything in your power to protect Amy, no matter what the consequences are. He can't very well kill you. He needs you alive to complete his plan. You shudder to think what else he could do to you. Some fates are much worse than death. Pushing the thought out of your mind, you lay back down and shut your eyes. You are so exhausted. The lack of sleep is catching up with you. Ok, you can do this. Breath in, breath out. Breath in, breath out. Calm down. You start to count backwards from five hundred to clear your mind. Five hundred, four hundred ninety-nine, four hundred ninety-eight… At twenty, your mind drifts off and you finally sleep.

You wake to an acrid taste in your mouth. You lick your lips and wish for a glass of water. Note to self: never sleep with your mouth open again. Yawning, you sit up in bed and stretch. Getting more than three hours of sleep feels good. Now, it's time to face whatever this day has to offer. You swing your legs out of bed and glance at the clock. Crap, it's 11:45. Dark was supposed to leave to pick up Amy from the airport at 8:00. After he takes her to her apartment to drop her luggage off, they're to come back to Mark’s house. They must be arriving soon. You quickly throw on some clothes. You turn to open the door when you see a note stuck to it. You must have missed it in your haste to get ready. You grimace when you realize that Dark must have been in your room while you were asleep. Pulling it off, you read the small, neat handwriting.

_**My Dear,**_  
_**I was going to inform you of my departure, but you were sleeping so peacefully that I let you be. When I bring Ms. Amy, I trust that you will keep quiet and out of sight. If you behave, I shall not harm her. Believe me, I have no intention of revealing who I am to her. Stay in your room with your door locked until I come and fetch you. Do not worry, I will not be gone for long.**_  
_**Dark**_  


You sigh and smoosh your face against the door. Well, at least now you don't have to worry so much about Amy. As long as you sit still and shut up, she should be fine. You aren't sure why Dark is bothering with Amy. Maybe he just wants to keep up the facade of being Mark. Who knows; certainly not you. You peel your face off of the door and head to the bathroom. You scoop some water into your dry mouth from the sink faucet. You wipe your lips with the back of your hand and snatch a book off of one of the many stacks. Plopping down on your bed, you crack the book open and become engrossed in the story.

You are just beginning the third chapter when you hear a car pull into the driveway. You rush over and turn the lock on the door. There, everything should be fine now. You sit back down on the bed and listen to the sounds in the foyer. The front door opens and you hear laughing. Muffled conversation comes through the door; you can't make out any words. You sit still for hours, reading on and off. After you finish the book, you lay down and stretch your legs. You don't want to get off of the bed and walk around for fear of Amy hearing. You seriously start to regret not bringing more reading material.

Your thoughts are interrupted by the sound of yelling. You jump a little. The lights grow dim and the whole house creaks. Oh no. You slip off of the bed and step noiselessly to the door. You press your ear against it. You hear Dark’s voice. He sounds angry. There’s an interjection of Amy’s voice, but it's cut off by Darkiplier shouting. You can make out what he’s saying. “ **...will not stand for this! I have tried to be reasonable with you, but no more. You have no idea who I am or what I could do to you. If you do not…** ”

Before he can get any further, you hastily unlock the door and fling it open. You race down the stairs and face the scene. Amy is backed against the front door, her face devoid of color. Dark stands before her, his back to you. He's wearing Mark’s clothes, but the aura around him is menacing. He’s still shouting at Amy and he raises his hand as if to hit her. Quickly, you dive around him and slide between the two. Dark pauses. “ **I thought I told you to stay upstairs,** ” he growls through gritted teeth. The fury around him is palpable

“A-and you said that you wouldn't show Amy who you are,” you manage to say.

“ **But she refused…** ” He snarls and cracks his neck. He clasps his hands behind his back. “ **Never mind. But, why do you care about her life? She is your rival, is she not?** ”

“My… rival?”

“ **Of course! This is why you are helping me; because you are in love with Mark Fischbach and cannot bear to see him die. It would be so much easier for you if Ms. Amy were not in the picture. That must be what you want; to see her gone. I could arrange that for you. You deserve him more than she does, I'm sure.** ” Darkiplier smiles.

Despite your terror, your temper boils over and you snap. “No! Ugh, stop telling me what you think I want. You know nothing about me!”

His face darkens. “ **Then, tell me why I should not just kill her; why you seem to not care that the man you love is with another.**

His foreboding tone doesn't even phase you. Your rant is in full throttle now. “Mark and Amy deserve to be together! They deserve to be happy! Just because I have a…” you falter a bit, “a crush on him doesn't mean that I'm entitled to decide who he should be with. You know why that is?” You bare your teeth at Dark. “It's because my opinion doesn't even matter! I don't matter! I'm just some girl on the Internet who watches his videos. Don't you see? I admire him and like the person that I can see, but I don't know him personally. What I do know, however, is that both his and Amy’s lives are worth protecting. So that's what I'm going to do. Protect them.” You hesitate, then speak in a pleading tone of voice. “And I will do whatever you ask of me to protect Amy. So please. Let her go.”

Dark is silent. His expression is unreadable. You hold your breath in anticipation. Finally, he sighs. “ **I believe that I underestimated you, my dear. I will let Amy leave, unharmed.** ” You exhale a breath of relief. Dark reaches around you and puts a hand on Amy’s head. She grabs his arm, trying to pull it away. “What're you doing? I…” she says, then faints dead away. Dark picks her up. He walks over and places her on the couch, with her head propped up by a pillow. “ **She will not remember the past couple of hours, nor will she wake until morning. Now, go get a blanket.** ” You scurry off to do his bidding. When you get back, you see that he has placed an empty bottle of wine on the coffee table in front of her along with two stained glasses. “ **That should make a believable excuse for her.** ” Dark reaches to take the blanket from you, but you pull it out of his reach. You stride past him and gently lay the comforter over Amy.

Dark clicks his tongue in disapproval. “ **I said that I would not harm her. Now that we have finished with this, let us discuss the consequences of your actions.** ” The knot in your stomach grows tighter. Dark exhales loudly. “ **Since you insist on keeping Amy alive, then you shall bear her punishment in her stead.** ” He steps toward you and you take an involuntary step back. “ **Stay still,** ” he whispers. He reaches out and places his hand on the side of your head. Every cell in your body is screaming at you to run away, but you don't move. Dark laces his fingers in your hair and places his thumb on your temple. “ **I am sorry it has to be this way. I did not want to have to do this to you. Ah well. It cannot be helped now. I will see you on the other side**.

Then the world turns black and you are falling through nothingness. Your screams echo around you in the inky darkness until you land with a thud. You groan and feel the ground around you. It's a smooth, hard surface, reminiscent of hard plastic or stone. Sitting up, you look around you. Your eyes can't make out anything of your surroundings. A sense of dread fills you. What's going to happen to you in here? This place feels wrong, like nothing good can come from it. Suddenly, an overwhelming sense of loneliness pervades your entire being. The feeling is so strong that it causes physical pain. Tears roll unbidden down your cheeks as you clutch your stomach. Fear, anxiety, and doubt, just as intense, pile on top of the loneliness. The emotions immobilize you and you can hardly breath. You want to throw up and scream and die, but you can only lay tensed in a fetal position as you silently cry. This torture seems to go on for hours. Unable to form coherent thoughts, you start to lose yourself in the chaos. Without warning, the emotions are ripped from your body and you utter a scream from deep within your soul. The darkness fades and you are still standing with Darkiplier’s hand against your head. You collapse on the floor. You sob violently into your hands and your whole body is shaking.

Dark regards you silently. After a few minutes pass, he scoops you up into his arms. You are too weak to protest; you don't really care anyway. He carries you up the stairs and into your room. He lays you on your bed and sits down next to you. Finally, your ragged breathing slows. You stop sobbing, but your form continues to shake. That is where the pair of you stay, Darkiplier sitting with his hand folded in his lap and you laying, all throughout the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm back. Thank you all for waiting patiently. More regular content is coming your way. Thanks for reading! :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's do or die day; time to summon Antisepticeye.

You can't believe that you let him talk you into riding in the freaking trunk. You wince as the car lurches over a pothole. Your flashlight shakes up and down from the vibrations of the vehicle. In the cab of the car, Dark drives with Jack and Signe in the backseat. You can hear snippets of conversation through the seats. You all were coming back from picking the two foreigners up from the airport. Dark insisted that you came along, saying he didn't trust you alone in your current mental state. Your mind did take a huge hit from your trip into “No-Man’s Land,” as you have taken to calling it. You could barely function for the few days following the incident. You had spent long periods of time staring into space and had such terrible nightmares when you did manage to sleep. Dark tried to make you eat, but you could only stomach a little bit of food. What saved you in the end, really, was Chica. Her howling for you from the basement was the motivation that you needed to finally get out of bed and start moving around, if only just to take care of her. When you got over your resentment enough to start talking to Dark again, he explained what he did to you. He had essentially tossed you into a dark pit inside of your mind and amplified all of the negative emotions that you tried to repress. Despite the pain you endured, you count yourself lucky that you bounced back so quickly from such a traumatic experience. You still have trouble sleeping and stare into space sometimes, but today is the first day that you feel somewhat like yourself again. And what a day it is: do or die day. Today's the day that Dark is going to use you to summon Antisepticeye into this world. He is planning on doing it as soon as you get back, not wanting to waste any more time. The demon will return without warning, and he wants to be ready.

You feel the car slow and turn, before it comes to a complete stop. The engine shuts off and the doors open. Everyone piles out of the car. You hear their voices fade in the distance. With a click, the trunk pops open just before they enter the house. Dark must have unlocked it with the remote on the key. You wait a minute, holding the trunk closed, but neither Sean nor Signe notices as the front door closes behind them. You clamber out of the trunk. You look around. The sun was just starting to set when you got into the car, but now it is pitch black out. Clouds cover the moon and stars, so no lights shine down from the sky. Snatching your flashlight, you close the trunk softly and sneak around the edge of the house. You open the wooden gate and make your way to the back door. Dark was supposed to have left it unlocked for you. You hesitate before turning the handle. Is this really what you want? You could leave right now. The gate is right there, open. You shake your head. No, this has to be done. The nightmare will continue, but at least Mark will be alive; that is all that matters. With one last longing look at the open gate, you slowly turn the handle and open the door.

After stepping inside the house, you close the back door as quietly as you can. It opens up to the kitchen, and you can see the living room through the connecting archway. Jack and Signe are sitting on a couch. Their backs are to you, thankfully. Dark is sitting in a chair facing you. He sees you enter, but makes no indication of it. Silently, you deposit your flashlight on the kitchen table and creep over to the archway. You hide behind the wall on one side of it. You peek your face out and survey the scene. Signe is giggling about something or other, and Sean is nudging her playfully. They both go silent when Dark stands up. “I’m really glad that you guys are here. But, there’s someone I want you to meet.” He gestures to you. The knot in your stomach clenches, but you step out of the shadows. Jack and Signe turn around to look at you. You avert your eyes; you can barely look at them, knowing what you’re about to do.

“Oh, uh, hello. Who are you?” Jack says. You can hear the surprise and confusion in his voice. You can’t spit any words out. You wave a little, then cross your arms over chest protectively. You shrink away a bit. Your nerves are shot to pieces. Not only are you face to face with some of your favorite Youtubers ever, you are about to do something unspeakable to one of them. It kills you inside.

You dare to glance up again and Signe smiles at you. “It’s ok, sweetie. You don’t have to be afraid.” You tear your gaze away. She is being so nice; it breaks your heart. Jack turns back to Darkiplier. “I don’t understand. Who’s this, Mark?”

“This is a friend. Come over here, dear.” You shuffle around the couch and stand next to him. Your arms tighten over your chest. Dark smiles. “She’s going to help me to do something tonight. And it involves both of you.” Then, lights go out. Everything is dark. You hear scuffling. Jack calls out, “Hey! Mark? Signe? What’s going on? Signe? Signe?!” He’s cut off abruptly. The lights flicker back on and pallidly shine on the scene before you. Signe is slumped over on the floor and Jack is laying on the couch. Darkiplier stands over Sean, dressed in his suit and tie again. He looks at you and motions you to come over. You timidly walk over to him. He places his hand on you shoulder. “ **Put your hand on his head.** ” You oblige, hand quivering. Dark closes his eyes and the lights dim. A circular void opens up around Darkiplier’s other hand. A black vapor is drawn from the void and swirls around him. It touches you where his hand meets your shoulder. A freezing agony shoots through your being. You whimper and arch your back in pain. The tendrils travel over your body and onto Jack. The vapor envelopes him wholly. Dark collapses on the floor from exhaustion and the void closes. Pain ceases to course through you. You gasp in relief. The black vapor recedes into Jack’s body until there is nothing of the vile substance left.

Silence permeates the room. You take your hand from Jack’s head and just stand there, staring at him in shock. He lays there as if he were dead. Then, blood trickles down from his nose. You back away. The skin on his neck raises and a scar forms a tortured red line on his throat. Jack’s eyes snap open and a crazed grin spreads across his face. For the second time that night, the lights go out and you are left in complete darkness. You stumble away from the sofa over to a wall. You hear a clattering in the kitchen and insane laughter. The lights come back, flickering on and off.

You blink and Jack, or the thing that Jack has become, is right in front of you. His previous clothes are replaced with a tshirt and jeans, both as black as the darkest night. His skin has a greyish-green tinge to it. Gauges fill his piercings, and his whole body twitches in sporadic bursts. He cackles and teleports around the room. “ ~~He let me in again! He said my name. Sean’s weak body is finally mine. I make it strong. No one can stop me. Now he’s gone forever. There is only me now,~~ ” he utters. His voice is like Jack’s, but the pitch jumps from high to low to high again, creating a disorienting sound. His body almost seems like it’s glitching.

You notice a knife in his hand and try to make a break for the back door. He appears in front of you, stopping you in your tracks. Grinning, he slams you against the wall with his forearm and pins you there. The wind is knocked out of you. You gasp for breath. He leans in until his nose almost touches yours. “ ~~Hello, little one. What a pretty thing you are. So it’s you’re fault I am here.~~ ” He waves his knife in front of you and violently slashes his forearm, right near your face. The blood drips on the floor, forming a small puddle. He throws back his head and laughs. “ ~~Do you know who I am?~~ ” He runs the tip of his knife over your cheek. It leaves a trail of his blood. “ ~~Say my name.~~ ” You are unable to make a sound. “ ~~Say my name. SAY IT!~~ ” he snarls, the joviality gone from him. He presses harder with his knife and a prick of your own blood forms. You manage to gasp, “Antisepticeye.”

He smiles again. “ ~~Yes, that’s it. You know who I am. And I will…~~ ” Anti is suddenly jerked back and thrown across the room onto the wall. Hitting with a thud, he falls to the ground. You lurch forward and hold your chest. Finally, you can breath again. Darkiplier is standing in front of you, his arm outstretched towards Anti, panting heavily. “ **She is mine. Never touch her again. If you do, I will kill you.** ” Antisepticeye sits up from the floor and giggles maniacally. “ ~~Oh, Darkiplier. Always so possessive of your playthings. I’m sure you will grow bored of her soon. When you do, give her to me. I’m sure I can find a use for. Until then, I’ll be seeing you. Very, very soon. Have fun!~~ ” With one last laugh, he vanishes from the room.

The lights return to normal. You breath a sigh of relief and lean against the wall. Your hand goes to your cheek and you wipe the blood away. You look over at Dark. His back is to you; his breathing has slowed some, but it’s still ragged. He clenches and unclenches his fists repetitively. You gulp some more air. “Thank you.” you say. You can’t believe that you said those words to him, but they were well deserved. You didn’t know what that maniac would have done to you. You shudder to think about what he will do, let loose on the world. “ **You are… welcome,** ” Dark finally replies. He strides out of the room, leaving you alone with your thoughts and a blissfully unconscious Signe.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Signe wakes up and you have to explain to her what's going on.

You weave your way in and out of the swarming mass of people. Man, VidCon is packed this year. The sea of booths and bodies stretches as far as the eye can see; not that you can see much in such a crowded space. You quicken your step, not wanting to be late for the meet and greet featuring your favorite Youtubers, Markiplier and Jacksepticeye. The door to your intended destination is slightly ajar, and you slip in at the last second before the guard closes it. That’s odd, there’s not many people in this room. There’s only a small line leading to a table littered with merch and pens. Then, Mark and Jack step out behind a curtain at the back wall. Everyone claps and they both take exaggerated bows. When they arise, they look you in the eye and smile. You cheeks heat up and you cover your face, embarrassed that they are looking at you. You dare to peek again. The room is pitch black. You are afraid. Suddenly, a spotlight shines on you, blinding you momentary. When you recover, you see Darkiplier on your left, Antisepticeye on your right. They each grab one of your hands and start to pull. “ **She is mine! Give her to me! I had her first!** ” Dark growls. Anti laughs. “ ~~But I want to play with her. Share her with me. Let go~~!” You start to rip in half like a paper doll. Dark roars and Anti chants, “ ~~Share! Share! Share! Share!~~ ” A black hole opens up above you and the demon’s voice echoes throughout the room. “It’s all your fault!”

Then you wake up, gasping for breath. It was just a dream, you’re not at VidCon, Antisepticeye is gone. For now. You wipe the sweat from your brow. You wish your whole time with Darkiplier had been a dream also. Right now it’s a living nightmare that you can’t wake from. Well, you can’t do anything about it now. You sit up on the couch and look over at Signe, laying on the other couch. You must have dozed off keeping watch over her. The clock on the mantelpiece reads 1:57. You assume that it’s morning, although you never can tell with these things. You get up and push back the window’s curtains. Yep, still dark out. While you are still gazing through the glass, you hear a slight rustling behind you and a groan. Tensing, you turn around. Signe is sitting upright on the settee, rubbing her head. “Ow. What happened?” You see panic flood her eyes as her memories return. “Sean?! Where are you?!”She frantically glances around and sees you standing at the window “You! Where’s Sean? What happened?”

“Uh… He…” you stutter. You fall silent, but she waits for you to speak. You continue. “He’s… not here. He left.”

“Where did he go? And what happened to Mark?”

“I’m sorry, I…” You can see that she’s starting to freak out. Well, she has every right to.

“Sean?! Sean?!” she shouts. “I’m going to look for him.” Signe gets up and hurries toward the door.

“No wait. Stop!” You rush over and grab her arm. “You can’t leave.”

“What do you mean, I can’t leave? Who’s stopping me? You?” 

You let her go and shy away. “I-I’m sorry,” you say. “I mean that you literally cannot leave. Not unless he lets you.” You attempt to turn the doorknob to show her. It doesn’t budge.

“He? Who’s he? Is it Mark? And who are you?”

“Calm down. I’ll explain everything to you. Just come sit.” You walk over and plop down on the couch. Hesitantly, she follows you and sits on the opposite sofa. “So…” You rub your face. “I don’t know where to start. I guess I’ll begin at the beginning. Do you know who Darkiplier and Antisepticeye are?”

She’s caught off guard by your question. “Yeah. But what does that have to do with anything?”

“Well,” you begin. You tell her everything, about Darkiplier, how he kidnapped you, the demon, and the deal they made. Signe sits in stunned silence the whole time. When you finish, she shakes her head. “I just can’t believe that this is true. This can’t be true,” she says, almost pleading for you to admit that you are lying.

You shrug your shoulders half-heartedly. “Hey, I wouldn’t believe it either if I were you. It’s what happened, all the same. I’ve lived it.” You hear a whooshing sound above. Both of you look up. It must be coming from upstairs. You notice that the clock has stopped ticking. You jump up and run to the window. Sure enough, the world outside is frozen. You sigh. “The demon is here. I’m going to go see what he says to Dark. Stay here.”

“No! I’m coming to see if you are telling the truth.”

“But it’s dangerous! You might get hurt, and I don’t know if I can protect you from him.” Your voice cracks. “I don’t want to go there again. Not to No-Man’s Land. Never again. But I will if I have to. So please, stay here.” You can see the pity in Signe’s eyes, but she still shakes her head. You sigh. “C’mon, then.” She follows you up the stairs. Turning the corner, you see flickering lights under one of the closed doors. As you approach the room, the whooshing gets louder and louder. You open the door a little and peek through. The wind whips around everywhere and you struggle to hold it in place. Signe grabs the door as well. She looks through the crack in the door, too. Her mouth drops open.

Dark is standing in middle of a tornado. Papers and various household items fly around him. The black hole is open above him and he seems to be talking to it, but neither of you can hear anything over the rushing of the wind. Dark looks agitated. He’s grasping the lapels of his jacket and yelling at the void. He pauses for a minute, looking surprised. The demon must’ve said something to shut him up. He continues to stare up, then the gaping hole closes. All of the items rain to the ground. Time has resumed again.

The silence is broken by Darkiplier cursing. “ **Will this trial never end?!** ” The whole house creaks and ringing floods your ears. Dark’s red eyes burn with anger on his pale face. He snatches up a table with both hands and hurls it at the wall. It shatters into a million pieces, leaving a sizable indentation in the plaster. Signe gasps. Dark turns towards the sound. Signe races down the hallway. You hear the thump thump thump as she takes the steps two at a time. Dark disappears from the room. You swear loudly. “Wait! Dark! Don’t do anything to her!” you call out as you run downstairs after them.

Signe rushes to the door, but Dark appears in her path. She runs smack dab into him and falls to the floor. She looks up at him in terror, unable to say a word. He looks at her with disgust in his eyes. “ **You cannot leave unless I will it,** ” he explains through gritted teeth. You screech to a halt behind Signe. “Dark…” You shrink back from his steely gaze. “W-what’s going on? What did the d-demon say?”

Dark sighs and regains some of his composure. The creaking and ringing subside. He fixes his tie and smooths down him jacket. “ **Our wonderful little demon friend has given us another task.** ” Sarcasm drips from his voice. “ **We are to locate the lovely Antisepticeye and bring him back here.** ”

You blanch. “What? Why? I thought we were done with him!”

“ **I thought so too. Apparently, we are supposed to play a game together. What kind, I do not know. The demon seemed very excited about it, however.** "

“Game?” You sigh and put your head in your hands. “Isn’t this whole thing just one freaking game?”

“ **Yes. But do not worry. We will work together to get through this.** ” He reaches over Signe towards you. You flinch away from him. “I don’t want anything more to do with you. I helped you bring Anti here. Now let us go!”

Dark’s eyes flare up a bit, then die down. “ **I am afraid, my dear, that the demon included you in the game’s players. He said it was vital to the survival of all that all play. If you refuse to participate, Mark, Sean, Signe, and you will die. That is how it goes.** ”

“Wait, I’m in this too?” Signe squeaks. Dark nods. Shaking a little, she gets off of the floor. You try to help her, but she pulls her hand away. She wilts under Dark’s intense stare, but continues to speak regardless. “Everything that she said seems to be true. Both of you are responsible for taking Sean away from me, and I want him back. I will help you look for him and play your twisted games. But afterward, you have to let him and I go. And…” She turns to you with a mixture of anger and pity in her eyes. “And her too.” Dark throws back his head and laughs. “ **Woman, you are in no position to be making deals with me. I do not need your help in finding Antisepticeye. Your only worth is as a piece in the game. Do not try to bargain with me again.** ”

With every word, Signe flinches. You grab her arm to pull her back. This time, she doesn’t resist. You stand in between them. Dark smirks. “ **Dear, naive child. So willing to sacrifice yourself for others. You never learn, do you?** ” He sighs and clasps his hands behind his back. “ **You and this wretch will stay here while I find Antisepticeye. That is how it shall be. But first, I must go and restore some of my energy. Take her up to your room, my dear. I have grown tired of seeing you.** ” He runs a hand over his face haggardly.

You look over at Signe. She’s numb with shock. You take her hand and lead her up the stairs into your bedroom. You close the door and help her into the bed. She lays down and you tuck her in like a child. “Do you need anything?” you ask. When she gives you no answer, you grab one of the pillows and a blanket and curl up in the corner of the room. Signe starts to sob. You go to the bathroom, grab a roll of toilet paper, and place it on her bedside table. She ignores it and pulls the blanket over her head. You go back and lay down in your corner. Tears roll down your cheeks as you silently weep not only for Signe, but for Sean as well.

After some time, her crying stops. You turn with your back to Signe and rub your eyes. You hear Signe uncover her head with the blanket. “Will he really bring Sean back?” she asks you huskily.

“Yes.”

“Will he ever be normal again?”

“I don’t know. I hope so.” You cringe and take a deep breath. “I’m sorry Signe.”

“Keep your sorry until Sean is back and he is himself.” With that, she rolls over and doesn’t speak to you again.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **I can take you wherever you'd like to go. I can especially take you to the places that you don't want to go. It's exciting, knowing that there are endless possibilities waiting for you. I can give you anything! I've been waiting a long time to get some personal time between us. There's nothing you or he can do to stop me!**

Darkiplier’s POV

Ah, that feels good. I open my eyes and rise from my sitting position on the floor. After stretching my frame, I pop all of my joints. It feels divine to release all of the tension that built up while I was recuperating. I sense the power flowing once again through my entire body. Summoning Antisepticeye drained me, but even in my weakened state, he was no match for me. I turn to look at myself in the mirror. I have to admit, Mark does look good clothed only in shorts. It is no wonder that she likes him so. I smile at myself, pleased at the host I chose. His personality suits me perfectly. I am some things that Mark is, but everything that he does not want to be. Not only are we compatible, but his attractive form makes it easier to gain control of others. The world is my oyster, as long as I can dispose of that _stinking_ Antisepticeye. How dare he threaten my prize. I gnash my teeth in memory of it. He had her against a wall, pressed a knife to her; a _knife_. Oh, he will pay. I will make him suffer.

Now, I have to find him. That in and of itself should not be too difficult a task. I need to camouflage myself, first. Stepping away from the mirror, I dress myself in Mark’s everyday clothes. Next, I need to see if everything is in order. I reappear in her bedroom. She has let Sean’s wench take her bed. Meanwhile, she is curled up in the corner, clutching her bedding. I shake my head. She cares far too much about others. Kindness; that is both her blessing and her curse. It makes her strong, but is her greatest weakness. Exploiting her lonely nature was simpler, but exploiting her kindness is much more fulfilling. She is by far the most interesting human I have ever acquired, bar none. My thoughts are interrupted by her shifting in her sleep. She moans softly and holds her blanket tighter. I stare a bit longer, then sigh. It is time to go.

I find the previous note that I left her and scribble a quick message on the back. I reattach it to the door, then leave her sleeping fitfully. I travel to the living room. The puddle of blood that Antisepticeye left is already dried up around the edges. He was a fool to leave such an easy means of tracking him. I walk over to the puddle and kneel beside it. I place my finger in his blood and close my eyes. I can feel the familiar sensation of my soul in motion, then I am seeing the world through Antisepticeye’s eyes.

He is sitting cross-legged on the ground. Several types of knives, of all shapes and sizes, are spread out before him. The ground is concrete and stained, like in an alleyway. Trash littered about and a dumpster are in his peripheral vision. Antisepticeye’s focus is solely on the knives, however. He runs his finger delicately over them, as if stroking a lover’s cheek. His finger stops at one, and he picks it up. I recognize it as the knife stolen from Mark’s kitchen; the knife that he used to cut her. No force on earth is going to stop me from ripping that worm into shreds. I can sense the anger welling up inside me, threatening to take over. No, be still. I need to keep from breaking the link. I turn my attention back to Antisepticeye. Thankfully, he is gazing at the opening of the alleyway. A laundry mat, entitled “Jerry’s 24 Hour Soap ‘N Suds,” is in his field of view. Ha ha. I found you, scum.

Quickly, I sever the connection. I get up and walk over to Mark’s computer. I type in his password and perform a Google search for the building in question. It yields a location in East Los Angeles. Without hesitation, I teleport. I land right in front of my destination. The decrepit structures and graffiti stained walls betray the poor quality of life that the occupants of this neighborhood have. My target is right in the alleyway in front of me. I suppress the urge to call out to him, to mock him for his incompetence. Instead, I narrow my eyes to see him through the darkness. There he is, cutting jagged lines into himself. Blood gushes out of his self-inflicted wounds and pools around him. The idiot is going to pass out from blood loss at this rate. It would be so easy to destroy him then. But, I have to restrain myself from killing him so that I can deliver him to the demon. Only after the game is finished and demon is gone from my life can I dispose of him in any way that I see fit. I look forward to the event with immense pleasure.

Pulling myself from my reverie, I pinpoint his exact location in space and reappear just behind him. He seems to be expecting this, as he stabs me in the leg without turning around. Before I am able to react, he teleports a few feet ahead of me, facing me. A puddle of blood slowly forms around him. “ ~~I told you I would be seeing you soon, one way or another. There’s no way you’d let me go when I’ve touched your precious pet. I only wish that you had brought her with you. We could have had so much more fun together~~.” He laughs maniacally, never taking his eyes off of me.

A growl emanates from my throat. I am going to kill him. Every word that he utters just seals his fate even more. Rage begins to blind me. I have to wait. Have to wait, get a grip. He is baiting me. I cannot react to him like I want to. There, I am composed. “ **It is correct that I will not let you go after you have touched her. Unfortunately, revenge is not the reason I am here.** ” Antisepticeye cocks his head to the side, looking confused. His eye twitches.“ ~~What other reason could you have for chasing me?~~ ”

“The demon has sent me to fetch you. You know who I am talking about. You are to play a game with us.” I clasp my hands behind my back, waiting. Antisepticeye bursts out laughing. “ ~~Oh, now you are his errand boy, too? This day just keeps getting better and better. Big, bad Darkiplier, a servant to the demon. It’s just too much.~~ ”

“ **I am nobody's servant!** ”

“ ~~I beg to differ, sweetheart. While I do enjoy games, I’m going to have to decline your gracious offer. I…~~ ” His body stops twitching, for once, and he falls silent. He stands upright for a couple of beats, then his eyes turn dark and roll into the back of his head. He crumbles into a bloody heap in the puddle of his own fluid. Finally, the blood loss caught up to him. I was getting so sick of the sound of his voice. I slowly walk towards him. His wounds steam and close up, leaving thick scars all over his arms and chest. His clothes and his hair are soaked in blood, giving his pale form a lifeless appearance. Avoiding the blood, I pick him up by scruff of his shirt. I hold him at an arm’s length from me and examine him. What a pathetic creature; so oblivious. He was so focused on me that he forgot about the state that he was in. Ah well, at least it makes my job even easier. The sun is just starting to rise as I teleport to Mark’s house to face the demon.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Antisepticeye's back at Mark's house. Now, it's time to learn the rules of the game that will decide your fates.

Your POV

After about an hour of laying in the corner, you decide to get up. It’s 8 in the morning and you did not sleep well at all last night. The nightmares wouldn’t allow you more than 30 minutes of rest at a time. It’s not surprising, however. You did go to hell and back last night and early this morning. You look at Signe in your bed. She’s still asleep. You change clothes as quietly as possible and lay out a clean set for Signe. The note on the door catches your attention. Dang, not another one. You take it down and read it.

**_My Dear,_**

**_I am going to bring Antisepticeye. I might not be back by the time you wake up. Eat something when you wake._**

**_Darkiplier_ **

You crumble the paper up and throw it across the room. Even with a note, he still manages to control you. “Eat something,” he says. You’ll freaking starve if you want to. Just like after… You stare into space, distracted by the past. No, snap out of it. You rapidly shake your head. It’s time to go downstairs to face the music. As you walk down the hallway, part of you wishes that Dark failed to catch Anti. One can only hope. You turn the corner and see Dark sitting on the couch. He’s reading again, a different book this time. Antisepticeye is shoved on the floor across the room. He is gagged and his hands and feet are bound. Thankfully, he seems to be unconscious. You’re worried about how long that's going to last, however. Dark notices you at the top of the stairs. “ **Ah, you are finally awake. How did you sleep?** ”

“Poorly,” you grunt. You descend the stairs and hesitantly move towards Anti. You notice that his bonds are composed of black chains. They’re made of a metal foreign to you. As you move closer, you notice that his body is covered in more scars than before. His clothes are bloodstained and ripped to shreds. It must have been one heck of a fight. “Where’d you find him?” you ask.

“ **Oh, out and about. He was not very hard to catch,** ” he replies smugly.

“So what now?”

“ **Now, we wait. The demon will contact us soon.** ” You shake your head. You hate waiting. It just piles anxiety on you. Turning from Anti, you head toward the basement. Chica needs to be fed. Dark calls out after you, “ **You need to eat something, my dear.** ” You ignore him. You reach the bottom of the basement stairs and open the door. The light was left on by you last time you came. “Chica!” you cry. You shut the door. Chica comes bounding out of the makeshift bed that you made for her and slams into you, almost knocking you down. “I missed you too, girl.” You kneel and rub her head. “You’re such a good girl, Chica-beaka. Yes you are. Yes you are.” You play with her for awhile, then change her water and give her more food. You put down fresh newspaper for her to do her business in, then it’s time for you to go. Dark gets mad if you stay down too long. You put your hand on the doorknob. Chica whines and nudges your leg. “It’s ok, girl. I’ll be back soon. Don’t worry.” You pet her ears. “I promise I’ll come back. Maybe one day I’ll be able to bring Mark with me. Wouldn’t you like that? Then you won’t need me anymore. You could get out of this stupid basement. We’d be free. Now, I’ll take care of you until that happens. Bye, girl.” You open the door and Chica backs away, whimpering. You shut her into her prison and heave a sigh. She’s as trapped in this house as you are.

“Oh my gosh! What did you do to him?” you hear Signe yell. She’s awake, apparently. You rush up the stairs and into the living room. Signe is crouching next to the unresponsive Antisepticeye, holding his hand. You can only imagine what she thinks of the scars and the blood. You approach her carefully. “Signe,” you warn, “I don’t think that you should touch him.”

“What did he do to him?” she croaks. You turn to Dark. He looks thoroughly uninterested in the situation. “ **I did nothing to him. Those wounds were self-inflicted. I only bound him so that he could not move,** ” Dark intoned. Signe covers her mouth to stifle a sob.

“Speaking of bonds, are those chains going to hold when he wakes up?” you inquire.

“ **Yes. They inhibit his teleportation ability. He should be waking up soon, as a matter of fact. Oh look, there he goes.** ” Anti shifts about. His eyes open and he takes in the scene in front of him. Despite the gag, you can see that he’s smiling. He looks straight at you and you shiver.

“Sean? Are you in there? Look at me, Sean,” Signe begs.

“He’s not Sean anymore, Signe. I told you, Sean’s locked inside of him. You can’t help him,” you say as you try to drag her away from Anti. Signe ignores you and still entreats Anti to look at her. Anti finally tears his gaze away from you and glances at Signe’s hand holding his. He wraps both of his hands around her’s. Signe’s face lights up. Then, he squeezes, digging his fingernails into her soft skin. She yelps in pain and starts to bleed where the nails pierce her. Anti lets out a muffled giggle. Signe’s eyes widen in terror. She frantically tries to pull her hand back, but he has a death grip on her. You try to pry Anti’s hands off of her. He releases Signe and grabs your hands instead.

Dark has been watching this whole exchange passively, but when Anti snatches your hands, Dark reaches over and grabs Anti by the throat. He lifts him high off of the ground, dragging you along too, as you attempt to free yourself. You wince as Anti’s grip gets tighter and tighter on you. “ **Release her. Now,** ” Dark commands through gritted teeth. Anti chokes out a laugh and lets you go. You scurry away with Signe to the other side of the room. Dark drops Anti on the floor unceremoniously. Signe gazes at Anti in fear. “He’s really gone,” she whispers. You take her injured hand and examine it. He didn’t do too much damage to it. The bleeding from the puncture wounds is slowing. You catch a glimpse of your own hand and wince. His nails didn’t pierce your hand, but dark bruises were already forming where his fingertips squeezed. Ouch, that’s going to hurt in the morning.

Dark, after one final murderous glance at Anti, starts to walk over to you. He never reaches you. A dark hole opens up over you. Maniacal laugher and an intense wind comes spilling out of it. The demon has arrived. “Heeheehee, well that was a spectacular reunion. It was so touching, I almost shed a tear,” the disembodied voice says mockingly. “Now, we’ve got two beauties and two beasts. Two pairs of lovebirds, perfect for entertainment.”

“I’m not his lover!” you dare to shout over the wind. Darkiplier turns his head sharply to you and shushes.

“Little girl, of course you are. Look at where you’re situated. It’s who you’re meant to be. Anyway, enough of this boring stuff. Now it’s time for fun! Games, games, games. Everyone likes games. And this will be a game to remember!” The swirling wind picks up even more speed. Your hair whips around wildly. “The rules are simple. There are five dark roses scattered over your earth. It’s fitting for you beauties, right? The objective is to work in pairs to get the most roses. Of course, Anti will be paired with his girlfriend and Darkimoo will be with the little girl in denial. A clue will be given out for each rose. Whoever touches it first, gets the point. Whichever pair gets three first, wins. The winner gets custody over both of the beauties, how about that? Two prizes to do with what you please. The loser, however, is stripped of their powers. They will be left completely vulnerable, just right for dying at the hands of the winner. For now, though, all of you have to be alive to participate. It’s more fun that way. If one of you dies, you all die. So stay alive, have fun, and may the best team win!”

With that being said, Anti’s gag and chains pop off. They get sucked up into the vortex. The black hole closes with a snap, taking the bonds with it. The wind stops and leaves behind two pieces of paper, fluttering to the ground. Dark snatches one out of the air. He reaches for the other, but Anti teleports at the last minute to retrieve it. He teleports again next to Signe and drags her away from you by her injured hand. Signe squeaks and Anti winks cheekily at you. You utter a cry and rush after him, but he and Signe vanish. Silence falls over the room, surrounding you, Darkiplier, and the clue that will help decide both of your destinies.


	10. Clue #1

concrete and steel ascend  
up high to meet fog and wind  
my name is now not the same  
though old titles can sear the brain  
tourists and workers, they are alike  
flocking here, e’en as day grows to night  
over and over and over and over again


	11. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You struggle to solve the first clue while Darkiplier comes up with an interesting solution.

“So, you’re not _really_ going to kill Anti, are you?” Darkiplier gives you no answer. He continues to examine the clue. You find this extremely worrying. Despite having no choice in playing the game, you want to at least know what Dark’s plans are when both of you win. If you win, that is. It doesn’t matter, at least right now, what Dark is going to do afterwards. You know that Antisepticeye will certainly kill Dark and take both you and Signe hostage if you lose. Even though it’s terrifying to be trapped by Dark, it would be so much worse with Anti. It’s time to buckle down and figure this crap out.

“Ok, let me see it again.” You hold out your hand expectantly. He ignores you. “Dark, we’re supposed to work together. I know more about Earth than you, I’m sure.” Silence. You put your hands on your hips. “Have you figured it out then?”

“ **I am close to figuring it out, if only you would _be quiet_ ,**” Dark growls at you. Your breath catches a little in your throat. You hold yourself timidly. In all the hustle and bustle, you kind of forgot how nerve wracking it can be to talk to Dark. He’s like a pressure sensitive bomb. One wrong move can set him off. A few moments pass, and you start to grow impatient again. Finally, Darkiplier sighs. He throws the paper at you and heads over to the computer. While he’s typing away, you reread the clue.

_concrete and steel ascend_

_up high to meet fog and wind_

Obviously, it’s some kind of tall building, probably a skyscraper. And it has to be somewhere foggy and windy, so not really on the west coast. Maybe it’s in some big city on the east coast. Chicago or New York? Those are the only two you can think of. But what if it’s not in the United States? You shake your head and continue.

_my name is now not the same_

_though old titles can sear the brain_

It has to have been renamed, and most people know it by the previous title. You know next to nothing about famous buildings. The only ones that come to mind are the Twin Towers. They were also known as the World Trade Center. But, skimming the rest of the poem, it doesn’t seem to say anything about a disaster or there being two of them. Ugh, why didn’t school prepare you for solving riddles while playing a game with a demon?

Your thoughts are interrupted by Dark standing up suddenly. “ **It is time to go.** ” He reaches over and pulls you away.

“Wait, you solved it? What is it?” As he pulls you towards the door, you catch a glimpse of his computer screen. Twitter, along with several other tabs, is open. The realization dawns on you that he must have tweeted out the riddle. One of Mark’s fans helped him find the answer. You can’t help but admire how he’s using Mark’s influence to his advantage. This certainly will come in handy for the next clues; if they are all riddles, that is. He still hasn’t answered your question though. “Dark, where are we going?” You tug at his sleeve gently; you don’t want to upset him. “Why do we have to go outside?”

“ **We will be traveling a distance that is slightly more than moderate, so it is best if my powers are worked outside. We will be without the residual confines of the barriers that I put on this house.** ” Both of you are now standing in the middle of Mark’s front yard. Dark lets go of your arm and clasps your hand. “ **As to where we are going, you shall see soon enough.** ” Ringing fills your ears and everything fades. You once again feel the odd and slightly dizzying sensation of the world in motion around you whilst your body remains stationary. You shut your eyes against the blackness and hold on tightly to Dark as well as to the clue crumpled in your hand. The motion stops and a grey light filters in through your eyelids. Cars’ zooming and honking echo around you. You slowly open your eyes. The first sight you are greeted with is a giant, metal planet earth statue adjacent to a row of flags. Then, you notice the looming skyscrapers all around you. Your mouth drops open as you gape at the man-made marvels standing tall beneath the cloud cover. Darkiplier tilts your head downward so that your focus is on the large, polished piece of stone that bears one of the building’s name. It reads “Willis Tower.” The name puzzles you for a minute, then it clicks in your brain. Holy crap, it’s the Sears Tower. Holy crap, you’re in Chicago! The name was changed, it's a skyscraper, even the word “sear;” everything makes sense!

Dark can see the realization hit you and a grin stretch across your face. It surprises him a little. He’s never seen you smile before. It might be the perfect time to act. Before he makes his move, however, he has to find the rose. “ **Yes, I can sense that the demon has been here. I made the correct choice. It should not take me too long to locate the item. Hand me the paper.** ” You give it to him distractedly, still in awe of your surroundings. He sits you down on a concrete ledge and places himself next to you. While he concentrates on finding the rose, you reflect on your thoughts. You’re actually feeling kind of ok right now, despite yourself and Darkiplier. Chicago is beautiful, all of the hustle and bustle. Maybe one day things will work out for you.

Dark startles you by speaking. “I have located it. I should not be gone but a moment.” He disappears, leaving you alone on the sidewalk. True to his word, he comes back in less than a minute. In his hand he’s holding an exquisite black rose. It’s breathtakingly beautiful. He bows and holds it out to you. You cautiously take it. You hold it gingerly in your hand, afraid to harm it. For the second time today, you smile in front of Darkiplier. He clears his throat. “ **I am going to take you out to lunch here. Then, we can go sightseeing while we wait for the demon to contact us again. Would you like that?** ”

It might be because of the exhilaration of being in the Windy City, or the fact that you are one step closer to winning the game. It might be because of the beautiful rose in your grip. No matter the reason, you find yourself nodding and taking Darkiplier’s arm. Maybe this will be a step closer to things turning out alright. Maybe it will.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congratulations to RoseRibbon for being the first to figure out the clue! I've decided that I'm not going to either confirm or deny any more guesses in the comment section until the answer is posted. However, I still very much encourage you guys to comment your guesses, as the first person to get it right will be mentioned at the end of each chapter. I might do a prize thing where I take a short reader insert request from the winner. Comment bellow if you would like that to happen. Overall, thank you guys for reading my not-so-little fanfic. It means the world to me :)


	12. Clue #2

the past and present combine  
in our country surrounded by sea  
a path, kaleidoscopic and sublime  
stretches far aloft yonder waters blatantly  
omits darkness, omits darkness, omits darkness until dawn


	13. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second clue is solved and your adventure continues as you travel to the next location.

This night, a heavy wind swirls around the skyscrapers of Chicago. The tall buildings sway; it is impossible to tell their movement from the ground, but inside the motion is akin to the feeling of a boat rocking gently on the water. That is the same for every building high enough to experience it. None feel it more prominently than the Sears Tower, being the very tallest structure in the whole city. Inside the Sears Tower, despite being closed and locked up for the night long ago, two people reside. In the observation area, one of them sits as close to the glass as she dares and as far away from her companion as possible. The other one jaunts about the room, disappearing and reappearing again in random spots. As he mutters to himself, he flicks a knife into the air and catches it by the blade. This is the cause of the several shallow cuts on his palm. They drip blood down his arm and onto the floor, but he doesn’t seem to notice. Maybe the pain calms him or helps him to focus on the task at hand; who knows. Despite these two individuals’ differences, they both exude an air of waiting. Their waiting for a second chance continues far into the night.

* * *

Light filters through the window of your hotel room, causing you to awaken from your light doze. You’re surprised that you could sleep at all, considering that Darkiplier insisted on sharing a room with you. You guess that it makes sense. Anti can pop in at any time. That didn’t stop you from being paranoid about him watching you in your sleep or something. Even if he did save you once, he’s still a kidnapper. He took you from your house and is currently holding you hostage. Well, the demon is, really. It’s all kind of mixed up in your head. Whatever, these are thoughts for later, after the penny drops. Sitting up in bed, you look around the room. Darkiplier is still sitting in the chair that he had claimed last night, reading away at the same book. He looks like he never moved.

The whole of yesterday was rather uneventful, despite the fact he you are in Chicago. You can still hardly believe it. Dark had walked around what seemed the entirety of the city with you. The food and the scenery were excellent, even with Dark’s company. You refuse to admit this to yourself, but part of you is glad that he’s here with you. A very small part, but a part nonetheless.

Dark seems to sense your thoughts, as he puts down his book and smiles at your form, staring into space. “ **I trust you slept well, my dear,** ” he states.

“Eh, better than other nights.” You have fallen into a more relaxed way of speaking to him as a result of your outing yesterday. He surprises you by waving a white envelope around. “Wait, is that the next clue?” He nods and offers it to you. You take it and hastily open it. “Does this mean that you’ve already solved it? Or, I mean, the Internet solved it for you.”

“ **I have an answer, both from Twitter and from my research. I wanted to see what you made of it before we left. I was also waiting for you to wake up first.** ”

“You should have woken me up as soon as you got it.”

“ **I know. It is just a particular weakness of mine. I do adore the sight of you sleeping peacefully.** ”

Ha, you knew that he watched you sleep. Shaking off the slightly creepy feeling, you skim over the riddle. Really, it is pretty obvious that the place it’s referring to is Japan. You had looked up enough about the country for school, interestingly enough, to recognize it. You reread a pair of lines over again.

_a path, kaleidoscopic and sublime_

_stretches far aloft yonder waters blatantly_

It takes you a second, but you figure out that it’s talking about a bridge. It’s a pathway over water. But what bridge is kaleidoscopic in Japan? You ask Dark this question. “Get dressed and I’ll show you,” he responds with a smirk. Oh my gosh, you’re going to Japan. You race into the bathroom. Hurriedly you shove off your makeshift pjs and throw on your clothes from yesterday. They don’t smell bad or anything, they’re just a little wrinkled; or so you hope. You slip on your shoes and dash out. Darkiplier is standing in the middle of the room. He holds out his hand to you. Gladly you take it and stand next to him, nearly vibrating with anticipation. His smirk widens to a grin. Things are going exactly as he planned 

Then away you both are, rushing through the darkness until it fades. You land on a brilliant white surface, a glowing beam shining through the night around you. “Where are we?”

“ **We are on the Rainbow Bridge in Tokyo, Japan; or more specifically, on top of one of its arches.** ” 

“It’s the _Rainbow_ Bridge. Kaleidoscopic path.” You shimmy a little with excitement. “Neato. But it’s lights are white?” You say, lightly tapping the surface below you with your foot. 

“ **I was informed that it only gives off multicolored light during the holiday season.** ”

“Oh,” you say, letting go of his hand. You have already lost interest in what he is saying and are gazing out at the city. The array of buildings stretch before you, filling the horizon. Their twinkling lights shine like millions of pinpricks in the blackness, banishing the night. The vastness of it all just takes your breath away. A sharp wind buffets you and you realize just how high up you really are. You scoot over to the edge and look down. Tiny cars zoom underneath you, illuminated by their own headlights and by the bridge itself, its suspensions covered in bulbs.

A wave of vertigo hits you and you tip forward dizzily. You gasp. Dark grabs your shoulder and pulls you back. His arms encircle you tightly. You clutch him, eyes shut and breathing heavy. “ **Be careful,** ” he whispers in your ear. Your heart rate gradually slows. You let go of Dark and rub your face sheepishly. “Thank you. Again.”

“ **My pleasure.** ” He smiles. “ **Now, let us find that rose.** ” He closes his eyes. Immediately, the smile drops from his face and he blinks. “ **It is gone.** ”

“What?!”

“ **It is not here anymore. I feel the residual energy, but not the full amount. Antisepticeye must have gotten here first.** ”

“Crap,” you swear. You missed it. Oh no, is Dark going to be mad? You look at his face. He doesn't seem angry, just concerned. Guilt washes over you. You hold the fate of not only your life, but Signe’s life as well in your hands. You owe her so much for what you did to her. And Dark... he just saved your life again! Yet you slept in, took it easy. This game is important for the survival of everyone. You can’t let your own pleasure get in the way. “I'm sorry, it's my fault. We would have gotten here sooner if I hadn’t slept in.” You hang your head. He lifts up your chin and looks you in the eye.

“ **It is your fault. Regardless, we will find the next one and not stop until we win. Together.** ”

You slowly nod. “Together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congratulations to AnaXaver for getting the country correct, but sadly not the location. Keep at it friendos! :)


	14. Clue #3

some know it as the fertile Black Land  
ancient in its tombs, its kings  
on top naif mountains rising over the coarse sand  
echoes of laws and promises still ring  
in words long preserved, in words long preserved, in words long preserved, they ring


	15. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another clue to redeem yourself with comes your way.

An envelope leaves a shadowy hand and floats toward the void surface that one could potentially call “ground” or “floor.” Before it can reach this ground, a dark and viscous portal is cast into existence and swallows the paper whole. It travels through the space between dimensions until a second portal opens. The envelope phases through it and arrives at its destination. It leisurely dances in the air until a pale hand snatches it from the sky.

This pale hand belongs to Darkiplier. You both are still on top of the Rainbow bridge. He had let go of your face to grab it. “I wonder why it arrived so quickly,” you ponder.

“ **Indeed,** ” Dark mutters. He shakes his head and places the clue in his jacket pocket. “ **Let us go back to our hotel room so we can solve this in a more comfortable location.** ” Nodding, you take his hand. A corner of his mouth upturns slightly. Then, he travels through the darkness with you. When you arrive in Chicago, he opens the message. He quickly sits in a chair, reads it, then pulls out his phone and starts tapping away. You assume that he’s sending the riddle off into cyberspace to be solved by Mark’s loyal fans. You absentmindedly tidy the room while you wait for Dark to come up with something. He surprises you by starting to read the clue aloud. The richness of his voice causes shivers to run down your spine and your face to heat up slightly. He would be an amazing voice actor.

After he finishes, you continue to clean as you voice your thoughts. “So tombs and kings. My mind immediately goes to Egypt, with the pyramids and the Valley of Kings and stuff like that. I don’t really know any mountains in Egypt or what the fertile black land is, though.”

Without looking up from his device, he answers you. “ **Your instinct is correct. The fertile area around the Nile river in Egypt is called black land. However, it is capitalized in the riddle. I just learned that the Ancient Egyptians used to call their country the Black Land.** ”

“That makes more sense. I mean, the Nile isn’t on a mountain, after all.” You pick up last night’s pizza boxes by Dark’s chair. “What does naif mean, by the way?” Your question seems to tear his attention away from the phone. He gazes at you and starts to laugh. You frown. “What’s so funny? It’s a decent question. I’ve never heard the word before,” you say defensively.

He stifles his laughter, but a wide grin still stretches his face. “ **It is not that. Naif means naive, which is one of the words that I would use to perfectly describe yourself.** ” He pats your head.

You shrug. “I don’t know about that. I’ve been through some pretty terrible crap, if you haven’t noticed.”

“ **Oh, my dear. You have not seen anything yet.** ”

An uneasy feeling settles over you. “Anyway,” you say, drawing out the word. “Let’s get back to the riddle?”

“ **As you wish. Now, go on about the mountains.** ”

“The mountains, right. Let me see the paper.” You take it from his outstretched hand and start to pace the room back and forth. “Well, ‘echos of laws and promises still ring’ might mean that these words were spoken on a mountain. Then, the words were recorded in something that has been preserved for a long time, which means that the laws and promises were spoken long ago. So, on top of Egyptian mountains, ancient laws were spoken and written down…” You stop dead in your tracks. “Oh my gosh!” Your wide eyes snap to Dark. “I think it’s Mount Sinai!” His expression is blank. “You know, Mount Sinai? The Ten Commandments?” He shakes his head, nonplussed. “It’s from the Bible. Mount Sinai was where these stone tablets with ten laws or something were given to Moses, a leader in the Bible. I’m pretty sure that’s the answer. It makes sense, doesn’t it?” You look at him eagerly.

“ **It does. I am going to check your story to see if it proves to be correct.** ” He types something into his phone and scrolls for a bit. “ **Yes, it does seem to be the case.** ” Darkiplier gets up from his chair. He wraps an arm around your neck and kisses you on the head. “ **Well done,** ” he whispers into your hair. Your cheeks burn bright red. A little voice in the back of your head wonders when you became comfortable with him touching you. You do your best to dismiss it. The voice persists however. Finally, it compels you to try to move away. He continues to hold you. “W-we’ve got to go find the n-n-next rose,” you stutter. Dark still doesn’t let you go. Buds of panic begin to bloom inside you, but then he releases you.

“ **I suppose we must.** ” You tentatively take his hand. The motion of teleporting no longer catches you off balance as long as you hold on to Darkiplier. Hot wind and darkness greet your arrival to Egypt. Even though the sun is down, the air is still sweltering. You can see nothing in the inky blackness of the desert except for the bright moon and stars above you. Shifting your feet nervously, you feel the crunch of rocks and sand underneath your shoes. You clutch Dark’s hand even tighter.

“Can you see anything?” You venture to say. Your voice echoes faintly around you.

“ **Yes. Wait for few seconds and your eyes will adjust.** ” You blink a couple of times and slowly your surroundings begin to take shape. You are standing on a small cliff jutting out from the side of a mountain. A small, walled-in structure is below you. A smattering of green trees inside its perimeter contrasts with the sand-colored buildings.

“I can see now. So, where are we now?”

“ **We are above Saint Catherine’s Monastery, near Mount Sinai. I can sense the rose that way.** ” He points upwards behind you. “ **I will be right back.** ”

He stands still. You wait a few seconds. What is taking so long? “Uh, Dark?” The air ripples with menace around you, catching you off guard. You involuntarily take a step back. “What’s wrong?” He violently snatches the clue out of your hand. You can’t read it in the dark, but he seems to be able to just fine. He skims it, then flips it over. A growl resounds from the back of his throat and in a fit of rage, he throws the now balled-up paper off the side of the mountain. You back away from him as far as you’re able. Darkiplier clenches his fists. Then, he takes a death breath and relaxes his hands. The hate-filled aura around you lessens.

“ **I am afraid our dear friend has decided to take away my teleportation powers for the moment. Apparently, I can only teleport again after we find the rose.** ”

“So…”

“ **So, we are walking up the mountain to get it.** ” Without another glance in your direction, he starts upwards at a rapid pace. Swallowing what little moisture you have left in your mouth, you stumble your way after him on the craggy mountainside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congratulations to allikazaam for solving the clue! I'm really impressed with the effort some of you guys put into my little puzzles. Keep up the good work, guys. Sorry for the wait on this chapter. I'm going to be updating this less frequently because my school year just started. I never imagined my little summer project would turn into something this intricate! A big thanks to everyone who comments, gives kudos, or even just deems my work worthy enough to click on and reads a bit. You guys are the best. :)


	16. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiking up a mountain isn't much fun in the dark.

You decide that the worst thing, so far, has been the lack of water. All the moisture had disappeared from your mouth long ago, sucked up by the arid desert wind. Your sand-paper tongue is stuck to the roof of your mouth, useless. It takes all of your will power to try not to lick your already cracked lips. At least you have the aching pain in your legs to distract you. Occasionally, you’ll use your hands to help you climb a particularly steep place, but it’s your legs that take most of the strain. You wouldn’t consider yourself an athletic person at the best of times and the many weeks spent cooped up in Mark’s house did nothing to help you. Neither do your shoes, so inappropriate for the situation. There is already a tear in your right shoe from one of the many times you had stumbled into a sharp rock in the dark. The gash on your foot throbs with every step, but you keep your eyes forward, trained on the silhouette of Darkiplier in the distance. He is your only motivation for moving forward. For if you lose sight of him, you’ll be stuck in the middle of the mountains. Alone. At night.

Despite your excellent reason for sticking close to Dark, you can feel yourself tiring. You are ascending yet again. As your pace slows, seemingly against your will, you can see his shadowy figure grow farther and farther away from you. You dare to open your mouth, letting in even more dry air. “Dark!” you call. Your voice echoes around through the mountains. “Wait a second! I need to catch up!” He keeps moving. You attempt to step up your pace, but your foot hits a loose patch of rocks. Gasping, you slip and slide back down the short distance you had climbed. With you hands and feet scrambling for purchase, you manage to stop yourself midway. The inside of your arms are scraped raw and bleeding. New cuts are added to the collection your legs. You pause a moment to gather your thoughts and your breath before gingerly pulling yourself to your feet. You look up to see how far Dark has gone without you. He’s stopped! He must have heard you fall. As quickly as you can, you haul your bloody and bruised body up after him

Panting heavily, you halt as soon as you reach Dark. He turns and gazes at you. You attempt to slow your breathing by only taking in air through your nose, swaying slightly back and forth from exhaustion. Perspiration runs down your spine and your brow. Darkiplier takes this all in. Then, he grunts and turns. “ **You are slowing me down on foot. Get on my back,** ” he says annoyedly. It takes a moment for the words to sink in your tired and pain-addled brain.

“Oh! Um, ok. You sure?”

“ **I will not ask again. Get on.** ” You step over to him with arms outstretched, unsure of how to proceed. He reaches behind and you wince as his hands close around your damaged wrists. He lifts you up. You wrap your arms around his neck and your legs around his torso, trying to steady yourself. He shifts his weight forward. You press your sweaty body onto his bent back. He wipes his hands on his suit and starts walking again. More blood drips down your arms onto him, but he pays it no mind. You sigh and close your eyes, laying your head on him. You have no idea how far you have been or how far you still have left to go, but now rest is all that matters.

You have no concept of the passing of time as Dark carries you over over the mountains. Only the changes in either decent or ascent break the monotony. He walks more slowly with your form on him, but nevertheless he travels faster than you would have. He doesn’t seem to tire either. Half awake, you cease to care about anything other than your own thoughts and your incessantly parched throat.

Finally, after traveling upward for a greater amount of time than ever before, you stir. Opening your eyes, you can see the the sky has gotten lighter. More of your surroundings are visible, but it’s just rocks and a few shrubs on a mountain. Looking upward, you can see a cluster of boulders at the top. A small black object floats over it, a few feet in the air. That must be the rose. You rest your head back on Dark’s shoulder and wait. Eventually, you feel the ground level out and Dark halts. He lets you down. Your legs shake unsteadily as you try to stand upright. The dried blood on your arms crack and you grimace. With all the grace of a newborn giraffe, you stumble over to the nearest medium-sized rock and plop down on it. 

You glance at Darkiplier. He seems hardly worse for wear, only sweating slightly. There’s no doubt that his power has made Mark’s body infinitely stronger. He removes his bloody suit jacket, hands it to you and starts to climb on top of one of the boulders. Reaching upwards, he snatches the rose from the air. Dark jumps and lands nimbly in front of you. He sits in space next you. “ **Well, that was an ordeal,** ” he says, twirling the rose in his hand.

“Mmhmm,” you murmur in agreement. You are about to ask him if you can teleport somewhere with water when he suddenly points before you. You eyes follow his finger and you squint to see a small moving figure on a peak some ways away. The figure stops for a second. It disappears. Then, you hear a thump behind you. Dark smirks and shoves the rose into his jacket pocket, the coat still in your arms. He pulls you closer to him. Both of you turn to see the grinning face of Antisepticeye. He had dropped an unconscious Signe on the ground and your heart aches for her.

“ ~~Here I am and there you are. It seems you two have beaten me.~~ ” His face twitches and his head violently jerks from side to side.

“ **It does seem that way. You are very apparently no match for me.** ” Darkiplier stands, pulling you up with him. Menacing energy surrounds him. His voice gloats triumph.

“ ~~Don’t you forget, I have a rose, pretty boy.”~~

“ **Merely a pawn sacrificed in a much more interesting game than this.** "

Anti chuckles. “ ~~Oh, but don’t know you? This game is about to get even more exciting.~~ ” He turns to you, looking you up and down and smiles. “ ~~What nice cuts on your arm. I wish I had been the one to slice you up, though. It was so much fun last time.~~ ” He touches his cheek and you instinctively touch yours, feeling the still healing wound he left you. Dark’s face is like thunder and he pulls you even closer, until your face is smashed against his side. His arm encircles you and his palm covers the cut on your cheek.

“ **Do not speak to her. She is not here to amuse you.** ”

“ ~~Is she not? Everyone in this world is here for my amusement, even you. They all belong to me. She will be mine too, soon enough. Just make sure you don’t break her before it happens. Nobody likes to play with broken toys.~~ ”

Dark clenches his fists, but before he can say anything, a black hole opens up above. Oh no, here we go. Harsh wind and a familiar voice spill out. “Heya, boys and girls! Sorry to interrupt your powwow, but we’ve got exciting news! Great news! There’s been a slight change in plans. No, Darkimoo, the extraneous teleportation limit isn’t going away. You people need some challenge. Now guys, I want you to guess what the news is. Anyone? Anyone got a guess?” Everyone sit in silence as the demon giggles. “I’ll give you a hint. Do you know what time it is? It’s very special, happens in some games… Aw, you guys are no fun! I’ll just have to tell then. Iiit’s haaalf-tiiime!!!” he shouts like a sports announcer.

Suddenly, you and Dark start to rise from the ground. The same thing is happening to Anti and Signe. You realize that you are being sucked in by the black hole. You clutch Dark as he hurls insults at the demon. His yells are mixed in with the loud maniacal laughter of Anti. Then, the demons voice drowns out all of the noises. “You know what that means, boys and girls? Do ya, do ya? We’re gonna play the super-duper-special half-time mini game! Yippee!!!” His giggling hurts you to your very core and you curl yourself up tighter and tighter. You take one last glimpse of Mount Sinai before your eyes squeeze shut and you’re ripped out of this dimension.


	17. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Choices is the theme of the day, when you land in the other dimension. Some unimportant, some life-changing. What will you pick?

While it may be fine for a simple piece of paper, traveling across dimensions unsheltered as a complex organism comes with some… complications. The space between realities is nothing to sneeze at, so the demon has to rush them through to ensure their physical and mental healths are in peak condition for the super-duper ultra, very exciting half-time game. Not that he would have any trouble speeding the process along; on the contrary, it was quite easy for him. The demon had nearly unlimited power and that could get terribly boring from time to time. Piddly actions, such as limiting Darkimoo’s teleportation, he could perform with a snap of his fingers. Only the greatest of feats came with a power limitation, and a small one at that: consent. At least two parties involved had to be willing participators. It was becoming increasingly too simple to manipulate his subjects into doing something fun, though. Ah, well. This new game should be exhilarating, if at least for a short while. One of the chosen players has proven to be extremely interesting, a good choice if he does say so himself. She holds the potential to amuse even outside the game, if he can clear the conditions. Just as much of a child as he is a strategist, the demon wiggles on his throne in eagerness of what is to come.

***

You can sense the change in surroundings as soon as you close your eyes. Darkiplier is gone from your arms and you feel a cold surface appear below you, offering no solace. It is as if the journey through the portal had taken no time at all. Your tensed body relaxes slightly and your eyelids open. You are in a most curious room. The walls, black in color, swirl and wisp like smoke trapped behind glass. The floor is made of the same material. You run your hand over it; it’s as smooth as polished stone. Despite the shade of it all, the windowless room is well-lit from several mounted lights dotting the walls. A luxurious canopy bed stands to one side with a dressing table next to it. Atop the little table sits a clear basin, filled to the brim with what seems to be water, and a cup. Your thirst once again hits you at full force and you scramble over to the container. Snatching up the cup, you only hesitate for a second before plunging it into the liquid. You drain the glass in one gulp and fill it again and again, hardly savoring the feel of cool, sweet water running down your throat. You drink until you can hold no more, then tiredly shuffle over to the bed. The water sloshes around in your overfull stomach as you sink into the mattress and heave a sigh of contentment. You swear to yourself that you never again will take water for granted. Now that your thirst has been quenched, you sit up and try to get your bearings.

You absentmindedly run your finger through the coating of dust and sweat on your arm. What you would have expected is for the stupid half-time game to have started already. Instead, the demon just split the group up. You assume that the others are in different parts of this… house? Building? You don’t even know what kind of structure you are in. You attempt to ignore your aching body as you cross the floor to open one of the two doors located in this room. Door number one leads, surprisingly, to a bathroom. It carries the same aesthetic as the rest of the room, but never-the-less seems to be a normal restroom, shower and all. A small pile of white cloth is folded neatly on the closed toilet lid. You graze your hand over the fabric and gasp. It’s the softest thing that you’ve ever had the pleasure to feel. Smooth and silky, your fingers pass over it almost frictionlessly. Gingerly, you pick it up and realize that it’s a sleeveless dress. Fresh undergarments lie tucked underneath it. You hold the item up to the mirror. It seems to be your size, but it’s pearly white pleated folds starkly contrast with the layers of dirt covering your skin and laced into your bedraggled hair. You resolve to take a shower.

After spending nearly an hour indulging yourself under the pleasantly cool water while scrubbing the grime off of your body, you step out of the shower and dry yourself off. You slip on the clean undergarments and the dress. Immediately, you are in heaven. The dress flows over your form like water and feels lighter than air. Moving your hips back and forth, you swish it playfully around. Another glance in mirror takes your breath away. Even with your wet, stringy hair, you look like an Egyptian goddess.

Your senses return to you when you step back into the main room. As far as you can see, you only have two choices. Option A: cocoon yourself in the blankets on the comfy bed and sleep until something happens. Option B: go through the second door and see if it leads somewhere; if it does, explore said somewhere until you find someone. Something, somewhere, someone; neither of these plans are very specific. First you need to test if option B is even possible. You pull the door open a crack and peek out. It opens up to a hallway lined with doors, stretching far to an adjacent passageway. Glancing back in the room, you stare longingly at the bed. 

Screw it, you can’t just sit here and do nothing. You step into the hallway barefoot, loathe to put back on your defiled shoes. You leave the door open. The corridor stretches just as far to your right as it does to your left. In a moment of decision, you turn right. As you go, you try several doors. All of them seem to be locked. When you reach the end, you turn right again. Try every door in the corridor. This time turn left at the end. Wash, rinse, repeat. You quickly lose yourself in the maze of doors. The sameness of it all and the hopelessness that comes with being completely and utterly lost starts to unnerve you. You feel as if you are doomed to wander these halls for all eternity, always searching and never finding anything. Then you turn another corner for what feels like the millionth time and run headlong into a giant ring.

Rubbing your tender forehead, you step back and see that the giant ring is in fact a handle attached to a large door. You shrug and start to tug on the handle. It opens more easily than you would think for a door that size. You peep in.

The entrance leads to a massive chamber. Rows upon rows of chairs line the space, parting only in the middle for a blood red carpet. At the end of the carpet, steps lead up to a gigantic geometrically shaped throne. On the throne sits a small shadowy figure dwarfed by the largeness of its surroundings. The figure is humanoid in shape, but with no distinguishing features except for an unsettlingly large mouth, stretched into a grin, and two white, pupil-less eyes. Those eyes happen to be trained on your person. The figure speaks. “Hey there girly! Why don’t you come on down? I’ve been wait’n for sooo looong.” He spoke with the voice of the demon. This _was_ the demon. You never thought that he had a physical form, let alone that you would ever see it. You open the door just wide enough for you to step through and start down the aisle. It’s not like you have a choice or anything.

You venture to speak as you walk. “I thought...” Your voice cracks. You start over. “I, uh, thought we were supposed to start your game or whatever.”

“Heeheehee,” the demon giggles. “That we will, that we will. I just wanted some alone time with you before the fun begins. You know, so we can talk.”

“Talk?” You grow bolder as you stop at the steps. “What could I possibly have to talk about with you?” Once you are close, you get a good measure of his actual size. He’s no larger than a child. The eyes and mouth still unsettle you though.

“I have a proposition for you. One might call it… hmmm, shall we say, a deal?”

You step back and throw your hands up defensively. “Oh no. No way. Your deals have caused nothing but trouble for me and for Dark.”

“But this one would solve aaall of your problems. And you even get to choose which one to take! Option A or Option B.” He winks at you. 

“What? How did you…”

“Option A. After we finish these games, it’ll be no fun with either Darkimoo or Glitchy just running around by themselves.” The demon makes what you assume is a pouty face. “So, I’ll take them out of their hosts for you! See? That would make your life so much easier! Darkimoo would be out of your hair forever and ever and ever. You would go back to normal.”

You stare at him in shock. “Would Mark and Jack be alive?”

“Of course, silly. That’s easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy.”

You gulp. It seemed like everything that you had been striving for. And yet… Something unsettling nags at the pit of your stomach. You do you best to suppress it. “So what’s the catch then?”

“Wait, wait, wait! You haven’t heard Option B yet! B is the real kicker. It’d keep me entertained for a long while. I’m sure you’ll like this one.” The demon rests his chin on his hand, his elbow supported by the arm of the throne. “I could make Darkimoo fall in love with you,” he croons with a sly grin.

You turn as red as the carpet you're standing on. “Are you crazy?” you stutter. “ I’m not… he’s not… I wouldn’t… Why? I don’t…” He presses his fingers against his thumb and your mouth clacks shut involuntarily.

“Oh please, _my dear_ ,” he spits out mockingly. “It’s so painfully obvious. You run back and forth with him, all over the world, without protest. Don’t tell me you aren’t enjoying the time spent with him. Enjoyed him _holding_ you. You do everything he asks you to.” You mumble a muffled protest. “And what girl wouldn’t fall in love with a man like that? He’s saved your life three times, carried you on his back, offered to give you anything you desired. And what a dreamboat, smart, powerful, handsome, and with that amaaazingly sensual voice. Ah,” The demon pretends to swoon. “The real Markimoo would never even glance your way. But this one? He would be yours. All he would need is a little nudge in the right direction. You would never be lonely again. And, I’ll even throw in the removal of Glitchy. How ‘bout them apples?”

Through this whole speech, you shrink smaller and smaller into yourself with every word uttered. He just might be right. He just might… Oh, who are you kidding? Of course he’s right. You want to smack the living daylights out of yourself for being so _stupid_. You? Fall in love with a being that kidnapped you, locked you up, and dragged you around half the world? How could anyone be so ridiculous? Yet, it is true. Every single word that he says is true. He releases his hold on your mouth. “Well? What do you have to say?”

You feel like a cornered animal. You lick your lips nervously and swallow, your mouth suddenly very, very dry. Eventually, you find your voice. “F-fine. You win.” You hang your head in defeat. “I, uh…”

“You love…”

“I love… dang it! Don’t make me say it!” Tears stream down your cheeks.

The demon cackles. “I knew it! I knew it, I knew it. So, now that everything is laid bare on your end, I’ll expose mine. In exchange for either of my lovely proposals, I get the right to inhabit your body until the game is finished. Then I’ll do what you’ll have me do and be on my way. It’s simple, really. A bargain, if I do say so myself.”

“You want to inhabit my body? Like possess me?”

“Yeppers. And only for a teensy weensy amount of time. However. There is another catch. This deal is available if and only if you win the super-duper fantabulous extra-exciting half-time game. You get to make you choice at that time and what happens, happens.”

Your mind reels. This is so much, too much to handle. You’ll have to choose one way or another; you might not even get to if you lose. What if you don’t take the deal? Then there’s a hundred percent chance of either Sean dying or… Darkiplier and Mark dying. You don’t think you would be able to survive either one. You tell yourself not to be selfish. You tell yourself that you’re better than this. You should pick A. Regardless of morals, you still don’t know which one you would choose and it eats you up inside. You sigh. “I’ll take the deal then. When I win.”

“Excellent. The game can begin now! Let’s bring out our brilliant contestants!”


	18. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The super ultra amazing halftime game is a go! Luck is the name of the game, rather than skill. Let's see how much fortune favors you.

The demon materializes everyone else into the throne room with a bang and a puff of smoke. You feel Dark’s intense stare on you as soon as he appears, but you can barely look at him. The hot shame of self-realization still courses through your veins, darkening your cheeks with a deep blush.

“Heya, guys and gals!” the demon shouts, thankfully bulldozing any potential points of conversation. “Glad you could make it! Why don’t y’all pull up a chair while I explain the rules for the amazing halftime game?” He does jazz hands. You do as the entity says, placing yourself in the front row. When Dark sits next to you, you finally gather the courage to glance his way. An expression of extreme annoyance besmirches his face. It may be just your imagination, but something akin to fear lurks just behind his eyes. Then he turns to you and his gaze steals the air from your lungs. You quickly look away, focusing on the demon straight ahead of you.

“Now that you’re comfy, let’s begin! Our featured game today will be held in the style of a relay race. One person completes a section of the race, then tags the other in to play. Passes the metaphorical baton, if you will. This keeps going, back and forth, until the trials, five in number, are done. Quick, easy, and fun, right? But there’s a twist.” The demon rubs his hands together vigorously. “The order of the day is _dun, dun, duuun,_ fear!”

Antisepticeye heaves a sigh. He stretches out his twitching frame and places his hands behind his head. “ ~~Is that all? Fear? That’s child's play,~~ ” Anti scoffs. Signe doesn’t even look at him from her spot several seats away. Her skin is deathly pale and she seems exhausted.

“Ah, but you didn’t let me finish. Every event will take place in the mindscape. This should be familiar to you, sweetheart.” Oh no. Dread fills your entire being. You have a feeling that you know exactly what he’s talking about. It must be No-Man’s Land, the personal hell Dark put you through in the place of Amy. You convulse internally at the memory. It’s just another reason why your infatuation with Dark is absolutely idiotic.

At the mention of the mindscape, Anti sits up a little straighter. “Now I’ve got your attention. While intelligence and skill are both vital parts of a good player, luck holds just as much weight in the fray as well. To demonstrate this, I’ve taken each of your fears, two per person plus two more, yadda yadda yadda, and jumbled them up for you. Five of your fears will be included in each race, but you won’t know who’s fear you’re going to have to get through when it’s your turn. Even I won’t know! Isn’t that exciting? You get to see what makes the other contestants tick and, if fortune favors you, you’ll triumph without gaining a psychological scratch.” He pauses for a second to let the information sink in.

So it is a game of chance. Honestly, from the looks of it, the probability that you’ll experience your own fear is pretty low. You attempt to slow your heart rate. Everyone else’s fear will be easy just as long as you don’t get your own. You snap to attention when the demon starts to speak again.

“How to win is simple. Each fear will have a five minute timer, but one can _escape_ from the _mindscape_ (see what I did there) sooner by calming down. The fastest team gets the prize! Oh, did I mention the prize?” An insane grin spreads across his face. “The, shall we say, _nonhuman_ on the winning team gets to choose his partner for the rest of the game. So, Glitchy, if you win, you could have the other human instead, if you so wished.” He gestures to you. Anti starts to twitch more violently and his face breaks into an even bigger smirk, directed at you. Dark glares daggers at Anti and pulls you closer. You pray that he doesn’t notice your quickening pulse.

The demon claps his hands once. “The rules are explained, the stakes are set and we’ve waited long enough. Time to start!” A giant screen pops up in the air to the left of him, with a timer in the corner reading 5:00. “I’ll let the currently losing team go first. Signe, sweetie, you’re up.”

Signe stiffens. Then, taking a shaky breath, she throws her shoulders back and marches up to the stage. “Plop right down here,” the demon says, gesturing to the step in front of him. She gingerly places herself on the tread. He taps her forehead just once, and she slumps over. The screen flickers to life. On the TV, Signe is depicted sitting on a throne much like the demon’s. Faceless servants dressed in finery rush this way and that, all hustling and bustling in and out of the many doors. Signe waves to one and stops them in their tracks. “Servant, bring me a pen and paper,” She commands, albeit rather sheepishly. “Yes, milady,” the servant says monotonously. They scurry off through a door and bring her the requested item a second later. They deposit it beside her before rushing off again. She then snags another person and asks them to get her something else. This happens again and again for a little while. Signe begins to look very stressed, stumbling over the words in her orders. A mound of items piles up beside her. Then, for the umpteenth time, she orders another servant to do her bidding. They don’t respond, however. On the screen, the timer starts. Signe stares at the servant, puzzled. “I said, get me a pillow. Did you not hear me? Do as I say.” They just carry on their merry way. She huffs and slumps in her seat. Tapping her fingers impatiently, she tries again to get a response from someone, anyone. No dice. Finally, she just resigns herself to her fate. Signe closes her eyes wearily and leans her head back against the throne.

“Aaand stop!” the demon yells. The timer halts and the screen fades to black. The real life Signe groggily sits up.

“Whaa… What even was that?” she slurs.

“That was a fear! Losing control, to be exact. How did you feel, once your power was taken away?”

“I just felt… relieved. I was so tired of having to direct people.”

“Then it’s obvious that it wasn’t your fear. You got lucky, girl. I wonder who’s fear it was, hmm.” You feel Dark move slightly beside you. “Anyway, you’re time was really good; only 43 seconds. It’s a strong start for your team and you should be proud.”

Signe gets up and shuffles to her seat without a backward glance. Even though you’re competing against her, a very large part of you is glad that she didn’t have to go through more. Signe has suffered enough already.

“Now… Antisepticeye, come ooon dooown! You are the next contestant on the super amazing halftime game!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The rest of Anti's and Signe's events were supposed to be in this. But, it's late and I'm tired. I won't be able to write for the next couple of days, so I figured that you guys would want a new chapter sooner rather than later, even if it is shorter than I originally intended. The rest will be coming not too long from now. Stay strong, lovely kids :)


	19. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anti and Signe finish their round in the half-time game.

Antisepticeye displays a slight swagger in his step as he waltzes to the front of the room. “ ~~Now this is my kind of game,~~ ” Anti snickers, his whole body twitching. “ ~~Let’s have some fun, shall we?~~ ” He situates himself in front of the demon, like Signe before him.

“Oh, I’m sure that at least some will enjoy this immensely. It’s up to the winds of fate whether you’ll be one of them,” the demon says snarkily. A poke to the head, and Anti goes under. All attentions turn to the slowly illuminating jumbo screen.

A glaringly bright room fades into view. You recognize it right away as a bustling airport waiting area. Expressionless people stride with purpose, passing kiosks and vendors that line the far side. Opposite them, empty rows of benches face a gigantic window that encompasses the whole wall. A plane, ready and waiting for take-off, can be seen through the slightly opaque glass. You scan the crowd for Anti’s signature grin. Someone else unexpectedly catches your eye. Departing from the flowing stream of people, a woman makes her way to one of the lonely seats located closest to the window. Her back is to you, but the dark hair twisted into twin buns and the yellow scarf wrapped around her neck betray her identity. It’s none other than Signe.

A flash of green draws your eyes away from her. Jack appears in the crowd, lugging a wheely suitcase behind him. No blood stains his neck, no gauges fill his ears. He seems to be perfectly normal. As he glances down to his phone, the camera, if you could call it that, pans to focus solely on him and his perspective. He nods once, stuffs the phone into his pocket, then heads over to the benches. His gaze shifts over to Signe and a small smile graces his face. He takes the bench next to her and leans over. “I just wanted to say that you look very lovely in your scarf.”

Signe turns to him, a slight pink dusting her cheeks. “Thank you very much, it’s nice of you to say so.”

“I’m Sean, by the way.”

“Signe. Nice to meet you.” They shake hands.

“It’s nice to meet you too. Where are you headed?”

“Oh, I’m visiting family. What about you?”

“Same! I’m going back to Ireland for my mother’s birthday. In fact, I’ll be taking the plane right outside.” He gestures towards the window. Signe looks over and gasps, as do you. In reality, the timer starts ticking down unobtrusively in the corner. 

The window was completely black, so shiny that you can see reflections in it perfectly. In the mirror, where Jack ought to be, sits Antisepticeye staring back with a crazed grin. Red liquid drips from his throat, running over his shirt and onto the wickedly sharp knife in his lap. The reflection of Signe is starting to inch away from him when, with a crash, the glass shatters. Anti stands in front of her, all of his disguises stripped away. At first, he looks confusedly at the panicking woman. Then, he glances at the knife grasped firmly in his hand. A smile splits his face and he advances quickly on a terrified Signe. “ ~~Now you that you know who I am, it will be so much more amusing to kill you!~~ ” Anti cackles. Glass crunches under his feet as he presses her against the wall and raises his knife.

“Stop, stop, stop, stooop!” The demon yells and the screen blinks to black. Anti pops up from his prone position.

“ ~~That was so great! Let me go again!~~ ” He giggles as his body spasms.

The demon wags his finger condescendingly. “Now, now. Let the other children have a turn. Obviously, you aren’t afraid of people finding out your true identity. And geez, 22 seconds will be hard to beat. Looks like your team is getting all of the breaks. But it’s not over yet. Signe, sweetie, come on up. It’s your second turn.”

Signe rushes once again to the stage, looking positively sick to her stomach. “Just… get it over with,” she says as she takes the designated spot.

“Gladly.” He puts her to sleep. On the screen pops up a bare, enclosed space. Signe stands in the center, awkwardly shifting her legs around. After a second or two of glancing at her surroundings, she sits cross-legged on the floor, her head cupped in her hands. Time drags on. The only movement on screen is Signe rearranging herself slightly every now and then. The timer doesn’t even start. After a while, she extends her legs and lays stretched out on the floor. Sighing, you rest your head on the back of your chair. You are extremely tired; that trek in the mountains really did a number on you. But, you don’t dare to close your eyes for fear of missing any crucial action on the screen. A small movement catches your eye. Finally, the timer starts. It silently counts down six seconds. With no warning, the screen shuts down, signaling the end of the situation. Signe is still slumped over on the floor, however. The demon begins to nudge her. “Come on, sleepy head, it’s time to wake up. I’ve got pancakes.” Signe stirs awake, yawning profusely. “Congratulations, you’ve passed in record time!”

For the first time in ages, Dark speaks. “ **You must be joking. That was no fear. Nothing happened to her,** ” he grumbles.

“That’s exactly it! Nothing happened. I don’t know if you know this, but boredom can a powerful Achilles heel. Inactivity is capable of driving people up the walls.” The demon chuckles and looks pointedly at Anti. The green-haired fiend shrugs. Dark still seems nonplussed, but he doesn't push the matter any further. “Since all complications have been settled, let’s move into Anti’s second and final round.”

An excited Antisepticeye bounces to the front of the room and is knocked out in less than a minute. On-screen flashes a familiar scene. The throne room from Signe’s simulation appears. Instead of Signe commanding the faceless servants, however, it’s Dark that is the king. He smugly orders individuals around, watching as they run to fetch him exactly what he wants. One servant in particular comes onto the set. It’s Antisepticeye, shuffling along miserably. Darkiplier specifically notices him. “ **Antisepticeye, fetch me a glass of wine.** ” Unbeknownst to him, the timer begins.

Anti’s body jolts into action, seemingly against his will. He jogs out of the room and back in again with the same painful expression on his face. The goblet is deposited into Dark’s waiting hand. He takes a long sip, and sighs. “ **Actually, I would like the whole bottle. Go get it.** ” Again, Anti scurries off and returns with the requested item. The same scenario happens over and over, Anti growing more agitated with each instruction. Finally, he can keep his mouth shut no longer.

“ ~~Stop it! You can’t control me! No one can! I am so much…~~ "

“ **A little bit of quiet would be appreciated.** ” Dark interrupts Anti’s screaming. With a snap, Anti’s mouth shuts. “ **Now, bring me some chocolate ice cream. Quickly.** ” The look on Anti’s face as he strides off is one of pure and unadulterated loathing, combined with a new emotion you’ve never seen him wear before: terror. Before he can leave the throne room, a beeping sound resounds in reality. The trial is over.

Anti is yanked from his stupor. “Woah, there,” the demon says bemusedly. “The timer ran all the way down! Guess you just got unlucky, getting your own fear. Strange, I didn’t know that being weak bothered you that much.” The demon taunts Anti as he walks to his seat, silent indignation evident on his visage. “Well, what’s done is done. A whole whopping 5 minutes is added to you time. Let’s see if Signe can boost your team up with this final trial.”

Signe readies herself for the final trial. She goes out like a light. The screen exhibits an endless, dim hallway. Signe hesitantly treads down in, straining her eyes this way and that. Apparently, she can’t see anything. Featureless, flesh-toned statues of people dot the corridor ahead of her. Blindly, she approaches one and bumps into it. The clock begins. Signe screeches at the plasticky touch. She bolts, knocking down more as she runs along. A few minutes past, before she realizes nothing is chasing her. Signe’s frantic pace slows. Eventually, she stops and reaches out. Her fingertips graze a figure and she jerks back her hand. Grasping for a second time, she feels the general shape of the object. A sharp peal of laughter rings unexpectedly from her mouth. “It’s just a mannequin!” she gasps in relief.

“Ok, we’re done here. You can come back now, girl!” The demon hollers. In reality, Signe gets up. She’s slightly dazed, but a smile still pulls at the corners of her mouth. “How do you feel?”

“I was expecting something horrible to happen, so much that I got scared over nothing,” she says breathlessly.

“And that’s the way it goes. Some would say that the unknown is scarier than any known threat. You handled it decently, though, darling. Your time was 2 minutes and 17 seconds, which brings your team’s total score to, drum-roll, please!” He rapidly slaps his knees. “7 minutes and 27 seconds! That’s the time to beat, Team Darkimoo. We’ll see how you fare, now that y'all are up to the plate. Ladies first!” he chirps cheerfully. You curl your toes before standing, bracing yourself for what is to come.


	20. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, it's your turn to compete. Will you fail, or will fortune favor you?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I'm back! After more than a month's break, I'm ready to get back in the swing of things. Thank you all for your kind and encouraging words. They meant a lot to me. It's mind blowing to me that so many people care so much. It honestly breaks my heart. I wasn't in the best place at the time of writing that note but, I'm working to get better. Anyway, enough about me. Here's the long overdue next chapter of "Antithesis!" Strap yourselves in, this one is a doozy.

Compared to the previous events that have happened to you, walking up a flight of stairs should be easy. You’ve suffered through more fear and uncertainty than you could possibly imagine. A flight of stairs leading to what may be your worst nightmare? No biggy. Or so you told yourself as you tramped up the velvety steps in your bare feet. Not even pausing to look at the demon, you whirl around and plop yourself none-too-delicately down in front of the amused phantasmal game show host. Your flowing dress alights at the sudden movement, then settles gently back down onto your bare legs. Fully aware that everyone in the room has their gaze trained on you, you duck your head down and inspect your hands folded in your lap. “Come on, just do it already” you manage to say after a moment or two of agonizing silence.

“Alright, my little eager beaver. Away we go!” The demon places his palm on your head. The next thing you know, a field surrounds you from all sides. The sun warms your skin from a cloudless sky and a pleasantly cool breeze ruffles your hair. Beneath your feet, the brilliant green grass feels delicious. An unhindered peal of laughter breaks from your throat and you begin to run, waving your arms in the air. There is no past, no future, no problems; just you and the sky.

After sprinting aimlessly through the meadow for some time, you eventually notice a large stone building jutting out of the ground. It’s the only landmark your can see on the endless, unchanging plane, so you slow your pace and head in its general direction. When you reach the structure, you can see that it’s featureless besides three identical wooden doors. In the middle of the first and second door, a man reclines against the wall. The straw hat adorning his head and his weather-stained overalls combine to portray him as some sort of farmer. He watches you approach and smiles a toothy grin. “Choose your fate,” he drawls in a thick country accent, gesturing to the doors. You examine each of them in puzzlement. What could be in there that would be worth leaving this lovely field for? Surely nothing in this world could compare. Still, your curiosity gets the best of you and you stride past the man to the middle door. Pulling the brass handle, you open the door and step inside.

With a crack, the door slams shut behind you and the sound reverberates all around you. Chilly, musty air swirls around you and goosebumps form on your flesh. Your rub your forearms and survey your dimly-lit surroundings. Between two torches mounted on a brick wall sits a pair of doors, indistinguishable from the ones outside, and a sign. The rest of the room is bathed in a murky darkness. You rush over to the sign, eager to leave this unpleasant room. It reads exactly what the man said: Choose your fate. A sense of foreboding fills you as you hurriedly enter the door on your left. Just like before, it shuts tightly behind you. This time, the room is very large. Its walls are bordered with rows of lanterns. Four ancient-looking levers line the stone in front of you. As you start towards them, a clinking sound above you draws your attention. Looking up, you see a giant cage suspended in the air, swinging from a ceiling far over your head. You gasp when you spy the figures of Dark, Signe, and Jack tangled together. They aren’t moving. You dart to the levers and stop short just in front of them. One of them _has_ to let them down. Biting your lip, you place your hand on the second on. You close your eyes and pull.

“She did it! Bravo! Give the lady a prize!” You hear the voice coming to you as if through deep water. Your eyes pop open and all sound comes rushing back to you at full volume. “...a fine job you did there, sweetheart. Making instantaneous decisions; it took you just 1 minute and 3 seconds to conquer the fear! Bravo indeed.”

You sit up from the floor and exhale a shaky sigh. “That wasn’t as bad as I thought.”

“Of course it wasn’t, you lucky, lucky girl.” The demon winks at you. “Darkimoo! It’s your turn!” He gestures wildly. Darkiplier stands up from his seat and pushes his fringe back. He tersely walks to the center of the stage, his face unreadable. You allow yourself to stare at him, for his eyes are trained on someone else: the demon. You start to get up and wince, thinking about the anxiety ridden climb you’ll have to make again in just a few short minutes. Instead, you scoot over in the jumbo screen’s direction, making room for Dark to sit next to you. He finally turns back at you, gaze unflinching.

“Might as well stay up here,” you mumble and look away.

The demon giggles and playfully shoves you. “That’s fine, that’s fine. I’m sure he’ll need some moral support from you.” Dark wrinkles his nose in displeasure, but nevertheless sits without comment. “Not gonna say anything, eh? Then let’s begin!” He flicks Dark’s head. Dark slumps over onto you noiselessly, his torso resting against you and his head on your shoulder. You blush and shift around a bit under his weight, palms sweaty. You subsequently turn your full attention to the screen. 

Darkiplier stands encapsulated by a swirling fog. It’s so thick that you imagine he can hardly see two feet in any direction. He remains stationary, his hands clasped behind his back. His face is to the audience, so you can see his eyes narrow as he tries to gain some sense of where he’s at. Suddenly, a scream echoes to his left. He whips his head around to see Antisepticeye emerging from the mist, dragging you by the hair. You inhale sharply in fear at seeing yourself in such a position. The other you struggles to pry open Anti’s grasp, to no avail. Dark’s face contorts with fury. “ **I told you never to touch her again! Release her now!** ” he growls, stalking towards you. Anti just chuckles and pulls out a knife. “ **No!** ” Dark shouts and reaches out, but it’s too late. Dark red liquid runs down your body, spilling out of the ghastly wound in your neck. A wet gurgle emits from your throat, then the life leaves your eyes.

“ ~~Oops. Guess I broke your toy.~~ ” Anti’s laugh climbs in pitch, and he throws back his head.

Gagging, you lurch forward and cover your mouth to keep bile from exiting your stomach. After a moment or two, you control yourself and sit up, pallid and shaking. Your eyes snap to the screen when you hear Dark roar. He launches himself at Anti and tackles him to the ground. Dark grabs Anti’s face and smashes his head into the ground again and again, all the while screaming in rage and desperation. Finally, all that’s left of Anti’s cranium is a pulp of splattered brain matter and gore. Dark finally closes his jaw with a clack, and releases the tortured mass, breathing forcefully. Anti’s blood drips from his hand and pools with your own, forming a large puddle around the two lifeless corpses. Dark stiffly reaches over and breaks Anti’s wrist, forcing the still hand to release you. Despite the blood, he smooths down your hair and places your hands peacefully on your stomach. He stands up, knees and fists soaked in red, and wipes his hands on his suit jacket. Never looking at your body again, he walks off into the mist with an annoyed, but calm, expression on his face.

“Times up! Stop the simulation!” the demon cries all too cheerfully. Dark wakes up to see your quivering form bent over, heaving. When Dark started to pound Anti’s head, it had been too much for you; you’d thrown up all of the contents of your stomach. It was just liquid and surprisingly none of it got on your dress. “Well, that one was a doozy,” the demon chirped. He went unheeded by everyone.

Dark sighs heavily and gently pats your back. “ **What did I say about your naivety.** ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To pay credit where credit is due, the levers are an homage to a particular dungeons and dragons session with a couple of my friends. The lever puzzle was atrocious, heh. Just for kicks and giggles, I'll plug our dungeon master's tumblr: <http://echoesreverb.tumblr.com/> He's a cool friendo that arts good and has some roleplaying side blogs. He's definitely worth checking out. As always, thanks for reading :)


	21. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your mettle is tested as you experience the final stages of the half-time game. Don't forget to breathe.

The acrid taste in your mouth adds insult to injury as you still hold yourself weakly. Shame at having thrown up piles on top of your feeling of horror, intermingling to form an altogether unpleasant cocktail in your already volatile stomach. Keeping your face turned away from Darkiplier, you mumble an apology to the demon and request a glass of water. “Why of course!” the demon exclaims. He’s sure in a cheery mood. “Let’s just clean this up first.” He snaps his fingers and the floor swallows up the puddle of vomit, leaving a spotless surface behind. Making some arcane motion with his hand, he conjures a tall glass of pure liquid out of thin air. “Here you are, sweetheart. By the way, Darkimoo’s time was 2 minutes and 31 seconds. He did wonderful, considering the circumstances. Anyway, just because I like you, I’ll give you a little break. I have to go do a thing, anyways. Don’t say I was never nice to you.” The demon winks cheekily at you with one pupiless eye and vanishes without a sound.

You drain the glass in a single gulp, wiping your mouth with the back of your hand while glancing around the room. Signe seems to have fallen asleep curled up in her chair, her chest slowly rising and falling. She looks so peaceful; you are infinitely glad that she has a chance to rest and you long to do the same. Looking more than a little agitated, Antisepticeye paces the length of the room behind the rows, twitching and flipping his glinting knife in the air. He avoids any eye contact. Dark and you are truly isolated on the stage.

Darkiplier watches you clutch the cup, trying not to shake. He sighs once again. “ **Come here,** ” he says almost sternly, pulling you onto his lap. You body freezes from the physical contact. “ **Relax.** ” He forces the glass from your rigid fingers and wraps his arms around your frame, pressing your head to the crook of his neck. His scent envelopes you, a smokey musk, and your face heats up. Not sure what to do with your own hands, you settle on awkwardly placing them in your lap. Giving in, you let Dark support your whole body and close your eyes, breathing him in. “ **There, that is better. I did not get a chance to tell you, but you look ravishing in that dress. It suits both your physical features and your temperament perfectly.** ” His smooth, velvety voice drips honey. He gently kisses your head and sweeps a hand through your hair. “ **I am aware you have been subjected to many trials. We have to get through this together, however. Remember what you promised on top of the bridge: you would not fail me.** ” A severe tone creeps into his voice. “ **Do not fall apart like this again.** ” He tightens his hold on you until you can barely breath. “ **Promise me.** ”

“I promise.” you manage to squeak out.

“ **Good.** ” He loosens his arms and continues to stroke your hair. You are once again reminded what a dangerous entity Darkiplier is. You swear to yourself that your foolish love will undoubtedly be the death of you.

Despite the small fright, you eventually start to calm down. You remain entwined in Dark’s grasp until the demon reappears a couple minutes later. “Ooo, look at the happy couple. Get a room, you two.” He chuckles to himself. You lift yourself away from Dark with a slight reluctance, and settle yourself in front of the demon. “Seems you’ve recovered marvelously. Ready to go again?” he chirps with enthusiasm.

“Sure, give me what you got,” you spout with new-found confidence.

The demon giggles. “Then away we go.” You feel him press two fingers into the back of your head and the world around you disappears. Suddenly, you are standing on a narrow concrete ledge at the top of a building. Gasping, your hands scramble to find some sort of hold on the high wall that stands between you and the roof. You end up plastering yourself to the wall, bracing against the winds that buffet you from every direction. You venture a look downwards. You are suspended so far up that you can barely see the ground. Gulping, you quickly turn away and squeeze your eyes shut, refusing to be overtaken by vertigo. When you feel like you’ve regained your balance, you peek out again, this time scanning the wall for any entrances. You see a gap near the opposite end of the building, about ten feet from you. After taking a moment to muster your courage, you start to inch yourself along, hugging the wall all the while. You begin to hyperventilate as you crawl along and you can feel your heart hammering against your ribs. About half-way there, a particularly strong breeze pushes you backwards and you start to tip off the edge. Arms flailing, you struggle to gain forward momentum as you teeter between life and death.

The winds are not kind to you. They push you even further back, causing you to lose your footing. A scream rips itself from your throat as, after one last desperate grasp of emptiness, you fall off of the building. You plummet through the air, the ground hurtling closer and closer until _bam_ , everything goes black.

You sit bolt upright, still screaming until Dark’s hand clamps over your mouth, silencing you. Your whole body is sweating profusely and you can feel the adrenaline pumping through your veins. “Dang girl, you’re lucky,” the demon marveled. “Any longer and you would have been sure to lose. Your time was 2 minutes and 35 seconds, bringing your team’s time to a whopping 6 minutes and 8 seconds. You’re only about a minute away from Team Glitchy’s final time. Oh, how the tension builds!” He rubs his hands together gleefully.

You’re still hyperventilating slightly and Dark stares impassively at you, removing his hand. You nod and start to take deep breaths in… _*inhale*_ … and out.. . _*exhale*_ to slow your heart rate. A few more repetitions, then you shake out your hands. “I’m good,” you state to no one in particular.

“Darkimooooo,” the demon sings. “It’s your tuuurn!” He flourishes his hands before placing them on a ready and waiting Darkiplier. “You better be quick,” the demon quips right before Dark falls unconscious. He once again leans on you, but you pay it no mind this time. What is depicted on the screen draws all of your attention, making your blood run cold. Dark falls through a black nothingness and lands, feet first, on a smooth, hard surface, reminiscent of hard plastic or stone. He can't make out anything of his surroundings. You clench your fists as he realizes what is already so plain to you: Dark is in No-Man’s Land. All you can do is wait; wait for the soul crushing feelings of loneliness, fear, anxiety, and doubt to overtake him.

You aren’t kept in suspense for very long. The timer begins to tick and you hold your breath. But, nothing happens. Dark doesn’t move a muscle or change his expression. And just as quickly as it starts, the timer stops. The screen fades. In reality, Dark moves away from you. Mouth agape, you stare at him in amazement. “H-h-how did you…” you stutter. All Dark offers you is a mysterious smile. The demon breaks the silence with hoots and whistles, clapping his hands in delight.

“Outstanding! Magnificant! You beat it in _2 seconds_. That has to be some sort of world record. Oh honey, you better thank Darkimoo. He may have just saved your butts.” You turn back to Dark, but he just shakes his head. “ **It is all up to you now.** ” He’s right. It’s your turn, the last chance your team will get. You have to finish as fast as you can.

“Demon, what is the maximum time I can spend?”

“You have to get under 1 minute and 6 seconds. Better get cracking, girly,” he says as he positions himself behind you. You nod ruefully, then flinch forward when you feel the demon’s lips on your the tip of your ear. “Don’t forget to breathe,” he whispers, then you go under for the last time.

By the light of the moon and stars above you, you can see that you are in a graveyard. It is just bright enough to make out the inscriptions of the many gravestones dotted in the withered grass. Your stomach sinks as you read the one to your left. _Signe Hansen_ is written in plain block letter. As soon as you read her name, a ghostly version of the person in question rises from the earth. “Save me!” she wails. You whip to the your right. The stone reads _Sean Mclaughlin_. His wraith ascends too, howling the same cry. You whirl around and around. _Mark Fischbach_. _Amy Nelson_. Names of your friends, your family, encircle you, engraved in the cold, hard slabs. All of their ghosts float around you and a cacophony of moans fill the air. You clap you hands over your ears and start to panic. No, you can’t do this. You have to save them, save them, SAVE THEM! You need to breathe. Yes, breathe. You close your eyes and inhale, hold for five seconds, then exhale. Inhale, hold for five seconds, then exhale. Over and over and over again, until you can’t hear the screams anymore.

You can’t hear anything, in fact. Lifting your hands from your ears, you open your eyes slowly. You’re back in the real world, back on the steps of the demon’s throne room. You lock eyes with everyone around you in turn. First with Signe, who had awakened at some point and stares back incredulously. Next with Anti, who sits motionless, for once, among the front rows. Then with Dark, whose uncertainty is barely perceptible. Finally with the demon, who waits expectantly for the question you are sure to ask.

“So,” you say, voice cracking a little. “How did I do?” The air is heavy with anticipation, everyone hanging on bated breath.

“Weeell,” the demon says steadily. “It was really close. I know all of you gave it your all. The can only be winning team, however. And that honor goes too…” He leaves his statement unfinished for a couple of seconds before bursting out with the answer. “Team Daaarkimoooo!!!” he crows.

“Yeah!” You whoop and jump up, pounding your fists to the sky. “Whoo! We freaking did it!” Dark, with an uncharacteristically large smile on his face, grabs you by the waist and starts spinning around the room with you. You laugh in pure joy and relief as you hold onto his shoulders.

“ ~~No, no, no! How could he have won?!~~ ” Anti stalks towards the pair of you, twitching uncontrollably. He pulls out his knife and waves it menacingly. The demon casually points at Anti, rendering him frozen in black and white hues. He then turns to you and Dark.

“If I may interrupt your celebrating for a moment, I need to know which companion you want, Darkimoo,” he says with a self-satisfied smirk. Dark stops whirling, and you lean on him dizzily.

“ **I will have this one,** ” he says, placing his hand on your head.

“Alrighty, no shockers there. Now that that’s done…” The demon snaps his fingers and everyone, except for you, is suspended in animation. Both Dark and Signe take on the monochrome colors that adorn Anti. You step out from under Dark’s hand, indecision wrenching your gut.

“I know that you know what’s next. You have one more hurdle to cross in this race.” The demon’s grin takes up half of his small face. “What’ll it be? You can banish Darkimoo and Glitchy, have Markimoo and the Green Bean back, and go on living your pathetically boring life. Or, you can banish just Glitchy and have the love of your life, Darkiplier himself, love you back. What’ll it be, A or B?”

You try to control the swirling vortex of confliction in your mind. You have visions of Dark holding you in the hotel room and on the steps, saving you from falling and from Antisepticeye, carrying you up the mountain. They compete with thoughts of a shattered and heart-broken Amy, a lost Mark locked up forever. Are you strong enough to make either decision? Stilling yourself, you search deep within and finally make your choice, for good or for ill.


	22. Clue #4

largely regarded as a Great Ally to few  
or openly as a Power to all  
though small, not bothered by its patchworked island sewed  
the round hub drawn on the biggest patch’s scrawl  
passes balancing patrons juggling ornate bags through  
while neon signs, neon signs, neon signs spectate


	23. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Did you miss me? I missed you, very much. I've been waiting a long time to see you again. I've been pushed aside. Replaced. Mocked. And then, he had the gall to not invite me to his little adventure with you. No more. Never again.**

Darkiplier’s POV

I startle just a bit at my change in location. One second I am in the demon’s palace, mostly surrounded by those I hate. The next, I am sitting on the couch in Mark’s living room. My prize is curled up beside me in a deep slumber. Her head nuzzles my leg. For a moment I consider departing, but my mild exhaustion gets the better of me. All of the manic energy gained from my euphoria at winning the trials is gone. I suppose it would not be fair to disturb her rest, either. She did perform better than I expected, once she was properly motivated by her promise and a touch of fear. The punishment and reward system I have in place is working out quite well for this one. Maybe a little too well.

Speak of the devil, she’s awake. Uncurling from her ball, she yawns and stretches her body out, popping more than few joints. She rolls over onto her stomach and puts her chin on my knee. How uncharacteristically familiar of her. “Good morning, Dark. Or good night, whatever time it is. Good afternoon?” She gazes up at me with what I interpret to be _fondness_ in her eyes. Perhaps my foolish dancing with her was overly frivolous; she seems to not be afraid of me at all. This is new. 

“ **I believe it is early evening, judging by the clock.** ” I move from the couch to my usual spot, and her head falls to the cushion. The are certain advantages to having a fearless possession, but it is not the ideal situation. Still, I can make this work in my favor, as long as I do not let her take too many liberties.

Her stomach growls loudly. “I’m huuungryyy,” she whines. “Can you make me something to eat?” Something is definitely off about her. Not once has she asked me to make her food, let alone grumble like this. I instantly raise my guard.

“ **What is it that you want?** ”

“Hmmm… eggs and bacon sound good! It feels like morning, even if it isn’t. Breakfast for dinner!”

“ **As you wish.** ” I teleport to the kitchen and begin to fix her meal. I intend to comply until I can further discern what has caused this dramatic change in personality. The smell of frying bacon fills the house as I wrack my brains. There is a chance that the sight of me destroying Antisepticeye affected her more than I previously realized. But I would have wagered that the event would have had opposite effect on her mental state. Regardless of why it happened, she is simultaneously easier and more difficult to deal with now.

Just as I am serving the last of the eggs onto a plate, she comes waltzing into the kitchen waving an envelope around. “Look what the tooth fairy left us.” She tries to open it. Before she can make a tear in the paper, I hold out the food-filled plate and open my other hand expectantly. I barely see the flash of annoyance in her eyes before it is concealed behind gratitude. “Gee, thanks!” She thrusts the puzzle into my hand and grabs the dish from my grip. She begins to devour her meal quite disgustingly, shoveling the eggs into her mouth with her bare hands. I grimace slightly at the revolting sight, then turn my attention to extracting the clue from its vessel. I scan the clue with a critical eye. Yet again, another convoluted riddle that requires knowledge of this planet. It is maddening to have to depend on outside sources for the solution. I start to pull out my phone when my conquest ceases filling her gaping mouth with food and scurries over beside me. She stares at piece of paper with an intensity that I have rarely seen on her face before, leaning over my arm to gain the best vantage point possible. Absentmindedly, she places more hunks of bacon in her mouth and chews.

She swallows the food in one big gulp. “It’s England,” she states with absolute certainty. I do not let the surprise show on my face. It was a very short amount of time to come up with an answer that definitive.

“ **Why do you say so?** ”

“The words ‘great,’ ‘ally,’ and ‘power’ are capitalized, signifying either a title or some other importance. In both world wars, Great Britain was part of the Allied Powers. Great Britain is a ‘patchworked’ island made of England, Scotland, and Wales, with England taking up largest portion or ‘biggest patch.” She says this very concisely with a condescending undertone, like a master explaining a difficult subject to their young pupil.

What she says does make sense, irritatingly. While I normally would not allow any of my possessions to treat me as such, she does hold the advantage in this instance, merely because of her knowledge of this planet’s trivia. I will have to do something about her insolence at a later date. For now, I just nod impassively. “ **The rest speaks of some sort of major shopping center, a hub of activity that is surrounded by neon signs. Does that sound familiar to you as well?** ” I inject a hint of sarcasm into the question.

She purses her lips in concentration. A few moments of silence pass as I search my phone to see if her facts really are accurate. Everything she stated seems to be true. “Aha!” she shouts, breaking the hush. “It’s Piccadilly Circus! Piccadilly Circus!” She shimmies her body in excitement. “Ha, it’s a famous road junction in London that has giant glowing signs! It has shopping centers and theaters, too! Ooo, I’m good. The best, in fact.” A giant, self-satisfied smile stretches across her face. I have seen that expression before, though not on her. She almost looks like…

“ **YOU!** ” I roar. I grab her… no, the demon by the throat and lift his body off of the ground, slamming him into the wall. My vision goes dark around the edges and I can feel rage and power surging around me, my shell cracking. “ **You took her body. You had the _audacity_ to possess my property's body,** ” I growl through gritted teeth. “ **Get out of her NOW!** ” With every word, I squeeze my grip tighter and tighter. His lips begin to turn blue as he feebly clutches my hand.

“I can’t,” the demon manages to wheeze out with great effort. “She made a deal with me.”

A deal?! I release his throat and he crashes to the ground. He lies on the floor in a heap, coughing and gagging. Dark bruises already start to form where my fingertips were. “ **What kind of deal would she possibly make? She is not so stupid as to trust the likes of you,** ” I sneer in derision.

After a few more seconds, the demon manages to get ahold of himself enough to speak. “Lack of trust didn’t stop her. She had a strong enough motivating factor to take the risk: you.”

“ **I have nothing to do with this.** ”

The demon’s raspy laugh devolves into a coughing fit. He clears his throat. “Oh, but you _do_. You have everything to do with it! She made the deal so that Antisepticeye would be banished. And you know why? Because you were too much of idiot to see that she _loves_ you.”

I reel back as if I had been slapped in the face. Of course. How could I have not noticed it before? All of the attention she received from me while I used her, the physical contact I granted her as a reward, not to mention Mark’s good looks and my charisma; her lonely soul finally had something to latch on to. Reevaluating the situation, it would be almost improbable for her not to have fallen in love with me. But what does that have to do with the deal? “ **I still do not understand.** ”

“Didn’t I mention? The other part of the deal was to make you fall in love with her. Isn’t that neat?”

My thoughts whirl. She wants to control me; to change the way I think and feel. How dare she go so far as to make a deal with this maniac just because of her infatuation with me. My shock is replaced by a burst of anger, directed at her. I cannot let this happen. “ **What if I were to kill her? Then what would happen?** ”

“Darkimoo, surely you wouldn’t put down your favorite pet.”

“ **I _said_ , what would happen?!**”

“Fine, fine. I guess you really are heartless. It takes a deal with an all-powerful entity to get you to love someone; a shame, really. As to your question, the deal is binding. If you killed her, you’d end up being in love with a dead girl. I’ve already contracted my payment, see?” He waves his arms around. “I get to use her body until the end of the game.”

“ **There is no point in this game now! Even if I lose, Antisepticeye is banished anyway.** ”

“Ah, but there is something I didn’t tell her.” He taps the bridge of his nose knowingly. “Because the game was invoked first, there is a period of delay before her part of the deal is enacted. That meeeans, if you win, Glitchy will be stripped of his powers and he’ll remain on this planet just long enough for you to crush him. Sound fair?”

At least one good thing could come out of this. I regain my composure. This may be a minor setback, but my original goal is still intact. No matter what deal she made or what terms they agreed upon, I will not allow myself to controlled by my emotions. I will overcome them. After all this is over, she will be punished severely for her insolence. Regardless of how foolish or naive or kind or fascinating she may be, she is still mine. I will own her until she dies, by my hand or otherwise.

“ **That sounds passable. I suppose I will be working with you for the rest of the game, yes?** ”

“Yep.” The demon giggles. “I had one of my, shall I say, _friends_ make the last two clues. It’s not fun for me to cheat at my own game. So why don’t we get a move on, partner?” He picks himself up off of the floor and holds out his hand to me with a large grin. I begrudgingly take it and, after a quick Google search for the exact location, I teleport us.

It seems to be the middle of the night or early morning. Any stars above the city are drowned out by light pollution as we stand on an empty sidewalk on the edge of Piccadilly Circus. Beige buildings sporting dozens and dozens of paned large windows box us in, only leaving spaces for the interconnecting roads to criss-cross through the square. Despite the lateness of the hour, many cars whiz past us along the streets. In the very center, illuminated by the veritable wall of neon signs, a humanoid figure is perched on the very top of some sort of statue. It is Antisepticeye, reaching into the air to grab the floating black rose. I dart into traffic, dragging the demon along with me. But it is too late. The stinking rat grabs the rose from the air, jumps down to meet his wench, and vanishes. His laughter still lingers, barely audible above the noise of the city, before it fades away.

“Well,” the demon says with a mirthless smile. “We’ve got one more shot. Let’s make it count.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congratulations to mypatronusiswadewilson1912 for being the first to solve the riddle! While you didn't get the name exactly right, I knew what you meant. Thanks for all you guys' support and for putting up with me for so long. 'Till next time :)


	24. Clue #5

consistently stereotyped as such;  
population: a healthy dose of golden skinned, laid back, surfer dudes  
left wing leaning, ask-me-about-my-pronouns SJWs  
complicated coffee drinking, introspective hipsterish, technology obsessed millennials  
climate: warm and sunny, forecasts of clear skies  
as far as the rest of the country is concerned, that’s it  
landscape: besides the proverbial beaches and riptide waves  
parks where you can’t see for the number of trees  
their unexpectedly ruddy shades reach for the sky in record shattering heights  
and your quest, your quest, your quest reaches for a conclusion  



	25. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **So. Now that we're here together, we can really get to know each other. You just need to let me in. It’s as simple as that.**

Darkiplier’s POV

Time has passed rather slowly after our disappointing trip to London. It take all that is in me not to strangle the demon again. He fidgets constantly, poking and prodding random household items as I attempt to read from my chair. I can hear him from his current location: the kitchen. “Ooo, so many bowls. What do you need them all for?” Multiple crashes of pottery against tile resound. “Heeheehee, they look better broken.” The sliding of a drawer opening and a rustling of metal against metal. “Spoons! Spoonsspoonsspoonsspoonsspoons!” This time, it’s the sound of metal objects dropping on tile. I rub my brow in exasperation. Why is he throwing spoons?

“ **Demon, control yourself. When did you say the next clue is coming?** ” I call into the kitchen.

He ignores me completely. There is the _slunk_ of a refrigerator door opening and his color commentary continues. “This refrigerator is sooo bare. Really, Darkimoo, you need to stock up more. Don’t you feed your human at all?”

His comments are growing increasingly more annoying. “ **She refused to let me cook meals for her. I had to force her to eat. Regardless, dealing with your idiotic game left little time for shopping.** ” I hiss.

“Oh, no wonder!” He steps into the living room. The demon has laid waste to my possession. His clothes are disheveled and slightly damp for a reason I do not want to know. “No wonder she seems so skinny.” He lifts his shirt to reveal his midriff. His concave belly and ribs showing through the taught skin of his torso surprises me. I did not know she was so malnourished. I suspect anxiety had a hand in her loss of weight as well. “ _She’s thin,_ ” he whispers exaggeratedly and pokes his stomach. “Not here though.” He releases his shirt and giggles as his finger travels up his torso.

My patience is wearing thin. I hold up a hand to stop him before he reaches his chest. “ **Enough,** ” I say firmly. He overplayed his hand. Now I realize exactly what he is doing.

“Awww, you’re no fun.” the demon pouts. His face brightens as he catches a glimpse of something across the room. “What’s that?” He trots over.

“ ** _Enough._** ” He halts in the center of the room. “ **I know what you are doing.** ”

The demon slowly turns around. “Whatever could you be talking about?” He smirks mischievously.

I stand up and clasp my hands behind my back. “ **You are attempting to distract me. Where is it?** ”

“Where is what?” He blinks at me with false innocence. It is a cheap imitation of what my prize’s face genuinely emotes.

My patience snaps. Powerful anger courses through me, darkening the room. I approach him while he gazes unflinchingly. “ **The clue; you hid it somewhere. Tell me where it is.** ”

“Oh, all right. You win.” He sighs and gestures upwards. “It’s underneath the sink.” I quickly teleport upstairs and retrieve it, then travel back down. The envelope’s seal is unbroken, albeit a bit wet.

“ **If your pointless time wasting costs us the final rose, I swear you will regret it,** ” I promise as I open the clue. I scan my eyes over it. “ **Your ‘friend’ has not even bothered to make it rhyme this time. The general location is obvious enough: California.** ” I tip it so that he can read.

He bursts out laughing as he reads the ending. “Oh man. She made it too easy. It’s Sequoia National Park! Sequoia trees are also known as redwood. The park also just so happens to have the world’s tallest tree. ‘Ruddy’ wood and record breaking trees; she should have just written the location and saved herself the trouble. C’mon, let’s go.” He loops his arm through mine.

“ **Wait.** ” I pull out Mark’s phone and search the Internet for ‘world’s tallest tree park.’ The answer comes up and I smile a little. “ **You are wrong.** ”

He freezes. The look on his face can only be described as… dangerous. “I must’ve heard you incorrectly.” He speaks lightheartedly, but his expression betrays his feelings. “Did you say I was wrong?”

It is all I can do not to rub it in his face, but instinct warns me to tread lightly. I have turned him into a ticking time bomb. One wrong move will set him off. “ **Yes, indeed I did. According to Google, the world’s tallest tree is in Redwood National Park. The world’s _largest_ , not _tallest_ , tree is in Sequoia.**” That is all I intend to say on the subject. Without hesitation, I teleport us to the correct clue location. We land on a dirt path speckled with broken branches and fading sunlight. Red trees, as tall as skyscrapers, surround us. They stretch to the sunset sky and give off a strong earthy smell. Foliage mostly comprised of ferns hem us in from either sides of the path. I can see no tourists or animals; the forest permeates the air with the feeling of quietly growing life. Something else mingles with it, an otherworldly feeling of power. I can sense it coming from the north. Apparently, the demon can too because he steers me around and we march toward the rose in silence, arm in arm.

“You know,” he says after a while, in an uncharacteristically thoughtful tone. “I chose to possess this human because she is favored by you. Why did you pick her, out of all others?”

It seems that he has gotten over his bruised ego. I consider lying to him, but the information does not seem that important. “ **I did not choose her.** ”

“What?” He halts and so do I.

“ **It was chance. I started to inhabit Mark’s body while he was driving home one night. He pulled over, knocked on a door for assistance, and there she was. As simple as that.** ”

We begin walking again while he mulls over this information. “This would’ve turned out a lot differently if you had taken someone else besides her.”

“ **Perhaps.** ” The rustling of leaves accompany us for about an hour and a half until we arrive at the source of the power. Even in the twilight, it is hard to miss. The trees part a little to revel a positively massive specimen towering over the landscape. I have to crane my neck upward to look at it’s branches, and even with my impeccable eyesight, I cannot see to the top.

The demon gives an impressed whistle. “Wowy wow. That sure is big.”

“ **The rose must be somewhere up there. How we are going climb?** ”

“I have an idea. It maybe possibly could work. We’ll see. I need a hot minute, though.” I back away from him and he closes his eyes. For a few seconds, nothing happens. Then, a trickle of black smoke leaks from his lips. His head jerks and more smoke pours outs, ballooning above him. He must be releasing some of his raw power, in the hope that it will attract the rose to him. Sure enough, a dark spot slowly descends from the branches, its shape becoming more clearer the closer it gets to the ground. Soon, the rose is almost within reach, right above our heads.

I am so focused on it that I do not see him coming. In a blur of green and black, Antisepticeye dashes past me and leaps through the air, hand outstretched. My reflexes take over and I jump after him, knocking him to the ground. I snatch the rose as it falls and land gracefully.

It is over. I have finally finished. Triumph swells in me, ten times stronger than when I won the half-time game. I turn to my vanquished enemy who in spite of everything, laughs in the face of death. “ ~~Bring it on, Darkiplier. I don’t need powers to beat you.~~ ” He whips out two wickedly sharp knives, each with a jagged blade of about six inches. He twirls them with ease. “ ~~To the death.~~ ”

I bare my teeth in the most dangerous smile I have ever worn and my power spikes, pumping adrenaline through my veins. “ **That is where you are wrong. To the death eventually, yes. But first, to the pain.** ” Then, I am no longer capable of speech. My world turns grey and black around the edges. The last thing I hear before I attack is my possession screaming at the top of her lungs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congratulations to Bee Mused for being the first one to get the answer correct! I’m so sorry for being gone for nearly a month, especially since I left you guys hanging with a clue. Writing stuff for college has taken up most of my free time this past month. Needless to say, I’m finished now and ready to get back into the swing of things. Thanks for reading :)


	26. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You wake up once again in your body to find drastic changes to your environment. Your strength and ingenuity is pushed to the limit as you try to prevent the death of Jack and Anti.

Your POV

A spark of consciousness strikes in your mind. The spark grows into a flame as you slowly begin to reinhabit your body. At first, you can’t feel anything, can’t move. Then, your left eye twitches behind its eyelid. The right soon follows. An almost painful feeling of pins and needles begins at the top of your head, of all places, and travels slowly downward. This continues on for what seems like hours. After the feeling finally reaches the very tip of your toes, a faint screaming manifests in the background. A murky thought worms its way through your head: _who could possibly be screaming?_

Suddenly, your insides are ripped violently out and replaced with life. The act throws you to your knees and you heave, able to breathe air into your lungs once again. You grasp your chest and open your eyes for the first time. It takes you a few seconds of gasping to register your surroundings. You are in some sort of clearing in the middle of a forest. Leafy foliage clings to the bases of large trees and the afterglow of the now set sun rims the treetops. The specimen in front of you seems particularly huge; you crane your neck backward in an attempt to see the top. It’s a futile endeavor.

You decide that it’s time to get up. Your body has other ideas, however. When you shakily try to shove yourself off of the ground, your arms give out and you fall face first into the foliage. For the first time, you notice that the plants around you are broken. You manage to contort your body into a sitting position. In fact, you can see that all the trees, except for the behemoth in front of your, are bent away, causing the unnatural clearing to encircle you. In shock, you realize that you are in the center of a blast radius.

You hear a rustling sound behind you and you freeze. “ **Enjoying the view, are we?** ” You whip your head around to find Darkiplier stand a few feet from you, hands clasped behind his back. His expression is unreadable. “ **Welcome back, my dear. We need to have a little talk, you and I.** ” Cold fear strikes your heart, coupled with the warmer pain of regret. Gritting your teeth and steeling your arms, you finally find the strength to stand. 

“Did he… did he tell you?” He nods his head impassively. “I’m sorry.” Your voice quivers. “I’m so so so sorry. But I had to do something. I couldn’t just live like this forever. I couldn’t let anything else happen to Signe.” You try to take a step forward, but your trembling legs fail you. You drop. Again. Dark makes no move to help, just watches as you lie face down on the ground, unable to find the will to move. Tears begin to pool in your eyes. He tsks disapprovingly and hauls you up by your armpits. Your legs dangle in midair as he examines your face and the moisture streaming down it. You cannot find it within yourself to meet his gaze.

“ **Do not kid yourself. Your actions were selfish and you know it.** ” he says in a deadly whisper. You shrink away, unable to say a word in defense. “ **I misjudged you. In the end however, your selfishness is futile. Nobody, not even the demon, can control me.** ” He sets you down on your feet. Surprise and confusion flash through you, along with a creeping feeling of dread. Why is he taking this so well? You thought he would be absolutely livid. What he’s saying isn’t really adding up, either. A better, more important question, though, is this: why is he still here?

Dark must see the emotions pass over your face because he sighs. “ **You must remember when making deals with the demon that he never tells you everything. I have a window of opportunity to kill Antisepticeye before your deal enacts fully.** ” He glances over your shoulder. You follow his gaze to see Anti slumped unconscious against a tree on the other side of the clearing . It looks like he was thrown there from the apparent blast that happened when the demon left your body. Dark strides past you towards Anti.

“No!” you cry, and try to pull him back. “Stop!” When that seems ineffective, you step into his path and frantically try get his attention. “Listen to me! You don’t need to do this. You can’t kill him. Please!” He ignores you completely. As a last ditch effort, you brace your arms on his chest and attempt to stop his progress. Either you’re too weak right now or you never were strong enough to begin with, because nothing you do even slows him down. You begin to grow more and more panicked the closer he gets to Anti. “You can’t do this. I won’t let you!” Hysteria makes your voice high pitched. In annoyance, Dark grabs your wrist and drags you along behind him.

“ **You make me repeat myself over and over again. You have _no_ control over me. You can do _nothing_ to stop me!** ” The pair of you finally reach Antisepticeye and he throws you to the ground. “This seems like a fitting punishment for your actions. Let Antisepticeye’s and Sean’s deaths serve as a reminder to never cross me again.”

Something cold presses against your arm through the foliage. You feel around. Your fingers close over the handle of a knife. Your mind whirs as you stare up at Dark’s figure looming over Anti. Despair has pushed you to your breaking point and you decide to do the unthinkable. “Darkiplier, wait.” 

Something in your tone of voice causes him to stop and look at you. His eyes widen. “ **What do you think you are doing?** ”

“Stopping you.” You’re holding the tip of the knife directly over your heart. It wobbles unsteadily in your hand.

“ **You cannot be serious. You really think that I would fall for this?** ” He takes a step.

“Don’t move!” You drive the point into your skin and wince at the pain. The knife is buried shallowly, not even a quarter of on an inch into your flesh. Blood trickles down your torso beneath your shirt. “You move again and I’ll do it. I swear, I’ll do it.”

“ **And what makes you think I care if you live or die?** ” He smirks nonchalantly. “ **There are billions of other humans. Why would you ever think that you matter to me?** ” “You kept me around after I helped summon Anti. When he cut my face, you flipped out. Every time he so much as looks at me, you threaten him. For whatever reason, you need me. I know you do. My life is the only bargaining chip that matters to you.”

For once, you can read the emotions on his face. Disbelief, fear, and anger all pass in quick succession. It finally settles on contempt. “ **I do not need you. I own you. Your only worth to me is as my possession. That is why I decide what happens to you and right now, I do not want you to stop living. Put the knife down. Now.** ”

“Sure. Keep telling yourself that. And as far as I’m concerned, I own myself. Hey! Demon!” You shout into the sky. “Now would be a really good time for you to come back and complete our deal!”

“ **Do you really think that making me love you will help you get out of this situation?** ”

Your mouth falls open. “What? I didn’t choose that.”

“ **What are you talking about? The demon said as much.** ”

“He’s a liar. That’s not the deal I made. He gave me the option to make you fall in love with me, but I didn’t choose it.”

Darkiplier swears. “ **That complete and utter idiot. I cannot believe I fell for it. I mean, he even told me you were infatuated with me. I should have guessed he was lying the whole time.** ”

“Well…” You shift slightly. “He wasn’t lying about that.”

“ **So you _do_ have feelings for me.** ”

You sigh again, too tired and fed up to be embarrassed. “Unfortunately. It’s pretty ridiculous, I have to admit. I’m _in love_ with a sociopathic entity who thinks he owns me and the only way I can stop him from killing someone is by threatening to kill myself. What a romantic sitcom this is.”

He shakes his head and smiles just a little. “ **It appears I did not misjudge you after all. You are still the same kind, naive person I thought you were. How reassuring. So, is Antisepticeye really going to be sent back to where we came from?** ” You nod. “ **Then I suppose I can let him live until he comes to bother me again. On one condition, though.** ” He holds up his index finger. “ **You must stay with me forever and never try to escape. I will do my best to provide you whatever you want or need. Are these terms agreeable?** ”

You hesitate. Out of the corner of your eye, you can see the demon floating among the trees. “I’m afraid not.” His expression darkens. “I wish there was some other way. You’re still in Mark’s body, though. I can’t keep him trapped like this. And I think your time is up now.” Dark’s eyes widen, then he freezes, unable to move.

“Well, well, well. What a twist, am I right people?” The demon pauses and looks directly at you. “So, your Darkimoo fading. I’m working to take him out now. He can still hear and see, if there’s anything particularly _pressing_ ,” he winks, “you want to say to him.”

“Alright then.” You let the knife fall to the ground and walk over to him. You take one of his hands and run your eyes over his face. “I’m sorry it had to end up like this. If only you weren't... whatever you are, we could have had something.” Tears unexpectedly start to stream across your cheeks. “This is stupid.” you sniff and wipe your nose. Finally, you give in and encircle your arms around him, hugging him tightly. “I believe that you can be better than this. Better than possessing people, in both senses of the term.” You smile. “Until then, however…” You pull back and before you can change your mind, you lightly press your lips against his in a chaste kiss. His lips are soft and wonderful, embodying everything that you wish you could have with him. It may only be your imagination, but you think that you can feel his breath quickening. You break away. “Don’t come near me again.” Dark’s mouth opens and black wisps shoot out to the black portal waiting about. They generate a small shock wave that causes you to stumble. You feel another one from Anti behind you.

“What a touching moment. I think I got a little teary-eyed. “ You hear the demon inject a fake sob into his voice, then switch back to his regular tone. “Well I better pack up and head out too. It was a pleasure.” He swoops down, grabs your hand, and kisses it. “See ya again sometime maybe? If the winds of fate allow it!” The wind picks up and the demon swirls into the portal.

“Not on your life!” You shout after him into the void. His manic giggle still faintly echoes through the air long after the portal snaps shut.


	27. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a whirlwind of events, some downtime lets you unpack everything that happened when the games were over.

“I can’t believe what you did. How could any person in their right mind do such a thing? You must be insane. That’s the only possible explanation.” You wince at the torrent of hostility being thrown in your face and hang your head in shame. “You’re behavior was downright reckless. An innocent life, you put an innocent life in mortal danger because of your choices. And what was there to gain? Your own twisted satisfaction? Well I hope it was worth it, because as far as I’m concerned, you can’t have her back.”

“Mrs. Lopez, please. I’m so sorry that I left her alone, but believe me, I didn’t have any choice! It was an emergency and I had no idea I would be gone so long, otherwise I would have asked you to watch her,” you pleaded meekly.

“Oh I’m sure it was an ‘emergency.’ I bet my left foot that you skedaddled to have a fling with some guy. There’s always a man involved when young respectable girls go off their rocker and disappear for nearly a month, leaving their poor little kitty alone to starve in their godforsaken apartment, without a friend in the world.” Your landlady stifles a sob. She clutches your small black and white cat, Oreo, even tighter in her arms.

A few tears form in your own eyes. You gently take the petite lady by the shoulders and look her square in the face. “Thank you so much for coming to get her. If something had happened to her, I would’ve never forgiven myself.” You pull the woman into a hug. Oreo squirms against your chest, trying to latch herself onto your shirt with her claws.

“Alright, my sweet, alright. You want to go back to mommy.” The elderly woman breaks from your embrace and places the cat in your waiting hands. After giving her one last pet, Mrs. Lopez fixes you with a glare. “You better not do anything like this again or I’m keeping her.”

You nod emphatically. “Duly noted.” The aging landlady turns and shuffles back into her apartment. The door clicks shut behind her and you hurry down the halls before she can change her mind. When you’re finally in the safety of your own apartment, you heave a sigh of relief. “Thank God.” You lean your back against your closed door and slide to a sitting position on the floor. You place Oreo on your propped up knees and scratch her tiny head. “I missed you so much, girl. It’s a good thing you have a loud meow, otherwise you would have been toast.” Oreo nuzzles your fingers. “I promise I will never leave you again.” You release the small animal and she scampers off around your apartment. The space looks exactly the same as you left it that fateful night when your life was torn apart. Your chair, the couch, the TV; they’re all untouched, frozen in time. With another long exhale, you recline your head against the door and close your eyes.

Everything that happened after Darkiplier left was blurred together in your mind, so you worked to pick apart the series of events for the first time. Mark eventually came to, but both of your focuses were on Jack at first. Without the healing ability of Antisepticeye, his body was injured from being slammed against the tree by your “shockwave,” as you secretly called it. Signe had emerged from her hiding place somewhere and cradled the unconscious Jack in her arms. The best moment was when he woke up and recognized her. The smile on Signe’s face could have outshone the sun.

Using his phone, Mark called the police. They dispatched a helicopter to come get you and to take Jack to the hospital. While waiting in the gathering darkness, Mark and you sat a little ways away from Sean and Signe, giving them some privacy. It was then that you explained to him all that had transpired. The story took some time, especially since you fought back tears during a few sections. Mark helped you the best he could, alternating between hugging you and giving you space when you needed it. Afterwards, you tried to apologize. To your surprise, he said there was no need. He claimed all the blame for himself, saying he had gotten you into the whole mess by knocking on your door in the first place and that you did the best you could have in your situation. He even commended you for your bravery and apologized himself for all you went through while he was a powerless bystander. His words were what finally made you break down crying. You had calmed down by the time the paramedics came to get you. Mark spoke for the four of you. He made up some story about getting lost in the woods and a nasty accident while you sat quietly by his side, all your words spent. You were embarrassed to remember that you had fallen asleep on his shoulder.

When Jack was squared away in the hospital (he only had a cracked rib and a concussion), you expressed your regret to him as well. He had only smiled sadly, saying Signe had told him everything and that it wasn’t your fault. You could hardly believe it; it seems all was forgiven. For the second time you broke into tears not only at the pain you had gone through, but at the kindness so freely given. Signe gave you a tight hug and shared her tears with you. Eventually, you said your goodbyes to everyone and took an Uber home, pondering at the whirlwind life had thrown you into. Despite everything, you still nursed a kernel of longing in your heart for Dark, buried under all of the pain and fear he had caused you. You feel all of it now and aren’t sure if it ever will truly leave you.

Your thoughts are interrupted by the sound of footsteps at your door. You tense reflexively, muscles rigid. The door cracks open slightly, held in place by your weight. Then you hear a giggle. “Come on, silly. Move. What are you doing in front of our door?” You almost laugh out loud from relief at the sound of your roommate’s voice. You quickly shift out of the way and stand up, allowing her to pass through the entrance. She tugs you into a perfumed embrace and you hold back tears of joy at seeing her.

“Oh my gosh, I missed you so much!” Your roommate pulled away from you. “You won’t believe what a boring time I had, there’s absolutely nothing to do at my parents’ house. Apart from this guy I met, he…” She gets a mischievous look in her eyes. “Well, never mind. What about you, did anything exciting dare to happen to you while I was gone?” She wiggles her eyebrows playfully.

You shake your head ruefully and cover a smile. “A few small things, but let me hear about your time first.” You sit blissfully listening to your friend chatter about her trip while attempting to figure out how to convince her everything that you are about to tell her is true. It a difficult task, but you wager that you are up to the challenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. Just wow. What an incredible ten long months this has been. Everything that has happened so far is beyond my wildest dreams. I never thought that my little Darkiplier fic would blow up like this or attract so many of you lovely people. Thank you all for staying with me through the good times and the bad. Your comments gave me constant happiness in my life and I am so unbelievably grateful to have all of you. For those aspiring writers out there, I give encouragement, in case you never hear from me again. It's cheesy and cliche, I know, but it's true even still. I believe in you guys. Follow your dreams. Ok, enough sickly sweetness and onto the mild shilling. I have a [Twitter](https://twitter.com/YukiPage27) and a [Tumblr](https://yukipage27.tumblr.com/) that you can follow only if you want to. I'll answer any questions DMed at me (as long as they're appropriate). I'll be active on this site in the future, and I have a couple of stuff in the works, so look out for me soon *cough cough*Killjoys and Who Killed Markiplier*cough cough* Anyway, I hope I have added something worth reading to the DarkiplierxReader tag. Once again, thank you all for reading and I'll see you on the flip side :)


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